The north bank of the Mississippi is where Pillsbury, yes that Pillsbury, had its mills and grain elevators. Much of its huge physical plant is now condos, and it is really a beautiful area today, much like we saw yesterday. The old tail race of the turbines is still there, showing the history of the…
Tag: Minnesota
Flour Mills, St. Anthony Falls, Minneapolis
Yesterday, I looked at the Stone Arch Bridge, the centerpiece of Minneapolis’s revitalized riverfront in the center of the city. The St. Anthony Falls brought industry to the area, using the water to power mills. Many of the mills are still here, even if some have fallen into ruin. Instead of viewing the buildings as…
Stone Arch Bridge, St. Anthony Falls, Minneapolis
Today and the next two days I’m going to be looking at the area around the St. Anthony Falls, which is the heart of where the city of Minneapolis grew up, and where its industry harnessed the power of the Mississippi River (in fact, the city almost was named St. Anthony). As happened throughout America,…
Temple, Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota
One thing that St. Louis does not have in its downtown is an extant Egyptian Revival building, which is something that Minneapolis can claim. Apparently this was an old location for Marquette Bank. Am I totally thrilled with the the bridge going right into the middle of the second floor? No, but I prefer it…
Art Deco, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis “came into its own” a little later than St. Louis, so its historic skyscrapers are younger than the Gateway City’s, which tend to be clustered around 1900. In Minneapolis, there are a plethora of absolutely stunning Art Deco office buildings, and I photographed some of them, which you can see here.
Minneapolis City Hall
Minneapolis City Hall is a magnificent pile of stone in the Romanesque Revival style, groundbreaking occurring in 1889 and the building not being completed until 1906. It was originally used for both the City of Minneapolis and for Hennepin County and its courthouse, in a relationship not unlike how Cook County and Chicago share a…
The Romanesque Revival Row, St. Paul, Minnesota
We came across this amazing row of seven houses at the southwest corner of Laurel Avenue and Nina Street just north of Summit Avenue. A perfect example of how the Romanesque Revival can be applied to a rowhouse design, they are still in amazing condition, complete with red brick and pink granite detailing. Looking at…
Farrington Street and Laurel Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota
On the northwest corner of Summit Avenue and Farrington Street is this amazing Romanesque Revival mansion with some Renaissance Revival elements in the porches. They look like something I would see in Florence or other Italian cities. All of the mansions have their carriage houses on the back side of the property. Then we headed…
Summit Avenue Between Selby Avenue and Farrington Street, St. Paul, Minnesota
Summit Avenue is amazing, and it shows what can happen when a group of people get together and rehab a bunch of houses and don’t let them be demolished for “progress.” The following houses are from east to west on the north side of Summit Avenue from Selby Avenue to Nina Street. I’ll let them…
James J. Hill House, St. Paul, Minnesota
The James J. Hill House sits at the beginning of Summit Hill, which heads out west along the top of the bluffs above downtown St. Paul, and just beyond the Cathedral of St. Paul. It is lined with mansions from the Gilded Age, and its revival is one of the great success stories of historic…