[greenleaf]

And here are some old buildings in Minneapolis that have continued to be well maintained.

I'll kick this off with a new building that is decidedly old feeling and looking. This is one of the better examples of what could be when a neo-art deco skyscraper is built well.

The Wells Fargo Building:

An Old Sears & Roebuck building in south Minneapolis that was converted to condos and offices. On the end of the complex was the Midtown Market, which was about the same size as the main floor of our St. Lawrence Market. It had the same feel too, although was more focussed on prepared food than fresh meats and fish.

First Avenue. I saw many a concert here.

A smattering of oldies but goodies, all located around or in the Warehouse District in downtown:

I'm not sure of the original use of this, but it was obviously storage at one point. It is now home to a theatre company.

Central downtown Post Office:

The Pillsbury A Mill:

The Lumber Exchange Building, the first skyscraper in Minneapolis built in 1885 and oldest standing building outside of NYC that is 12 or more stories:

Coffman Memorial Union on U of MN campus. A light rail line connecting downtown Mpls to downtown St. Paul is slated to run on the road in this picture. The U of MN is suing to prevent it (requesting it be re-routed north to another road running through the northside of campus) because it is going to interfere with sensitive medical and science research being done in the buildings directly adjacent to this street.

City Hall:

Factory converted to condo:

Grain Belt Brewery sign:

Foshay Tower:

Classic Minneapolis hang out:

Gold Medal Flour building:

And of course, it wouldn't be a proper Minneapolis photo set without acknowledging the lakes that are in the heart of the city.

Lake Harriet, with bandshell and refectory:

 

[greenleaf]

Oy vey.

Mods, can you adjust the title to Minneapolis Part 2: Old Buildings

Thanks!

 

[mr airbus]

I have only ever driven through MSP...Lots of architectural similarity to Toronto...especially the City Hall.

 

[androiduk]

Great thread greenleaf, thanks. That storage building looks like it once may have been an armoury.

 

[smuncky]

both parts of the minneapolis series have been great. lots of buildings that i've never seen before. thanks for taking the time to post these up.

 

[greenleaf]

Thank you all. I searched for a Minneapolis thread, but none existed. These are a good starting point I think (for all the good stuff, anyway).

Andoiduk, yes, that looks like it could have been an armoury. As a side note, in searching for info about the building, I found out that the theatre company who moved into that building in 1992, fell into $1 million in debt and folded in June 2008.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Minneapolis-Classic Old Buildings...nice!

Greenleaf: Good pics of some Minneapolis classics like the Lumber Exchange,City Hall and the Foshay Tower(Good to know there is an obeservatory there).
That ivy-covered short building in pic #18 is real interesting-what is it?
LI MIKE

 

[Tewder]

The Foshay building is a W hotel now and quite nice.

I have only ever driven through MSP...Lots of architectural similarity to Toronto...especially the City Hall.

The city hall is quite similar though the colour of the stone is grey unlike the red of ours.

Minneapolis actually doesn't feel very much like Toronto. There is very little brick used in the vernacular architecture there, unlike Toronto of course, and there is very little of the Victorian/Edwardian flavour that characterizes so many of our commercial/residential neighbourhoods.

 

[greenleaf]

LI Mike - that ivy covered building would be the Minneapolis Club.

Minneapolis lacks Victorian homes, definitely. There are a few though. There is a lot of brick in some of the older neighbourhoods, and is especially prevalent in the Uptown neighbourhood. Most houses are bungalows and there are lots of examples of Edwardian homes.

A couple of apartment buildings that represent what you'd find in Uptown:

I had always wanted to live in that red one, actually. Instead I ended up about 10 blocks away at this one:

 

[Mustapha]

Great stuff, thanks.

 

[CityPlaceN1]

I have only ever driven through MSP...Lots of architectural similarity to Toronto...especially the City Hall.

I thought of our old City Hall when I saw that picture as well.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Greenleaf: Thanks for the reply!

Greenleaf: Are there any rowhouses in Minneapolis or St.Paul?
The type I am thinking of are connected brick or stone-constructed
like those in Philadelphia,Baltimore and to a lesser extent Hamilton or Toronto?

Are there any neighborhoods that have buildings predominantly constructed
of brick or stone like those buildings you photographed?

Thanks again for your reply in advance - LI MIKE

 

[greenleaf]

Greenleaf: Are there any rowhouses in Minneapolis or St.Paul?
The type I am thinking of are connected brick or stone-constructed
like those in Philadelphia,Baltimore and to a lesser extent Hamilton or Toronto?

Are there any neighborhoods that have buildings predominantly constructed
of brick or stone like those buildings you photographed?

Thanks again for your reply in advance - LI MIKE

Not in Minneapolis. There are couple areas where you might find then on a limited scale. I can think of a couple streets near the U of MN campus where you could find them for say, half a block, but there is nothing substantial. I did manage to get one shot of one of these examples:

My knowledge of St. Paul is more limited having grown up in south Minneapolis (Minneapolitans and St. Paulites dislike each other in a sort of Toronto vs the rest of the Canada sort of way) so there may be a small area where they exist there.

You are much more likely to find Levittown style neighbourhoods than any rowhouses.

 

[Tewder]

Very practical and very 'midwest', i'd say, with a little classic American Deco thrown in.

 

[greenleaf]

Great photos! These buildings are not eye catching in the first moment, but once you are able to see all details as a part of a single idea, some of them ar marvellous. Especially like the Midtown Market...

Thanks Elli.

It was hard to capture it in pictures, but the Midtown building and complex is quite massive:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sour...=DQnj1MZQn7E6_uwJIYET7w&cbp=12,41.15,,0,-2.31

There is apparently a virtually identical building in Boston.