Until the Foshay Tower was constructed in 1929, this was the tallest building in Minnesota. The tower still houses a 15-bell carillon.
Addendum: An anonymous commenter noted the remarkable similarity of this building to the old post office/clock tower in Washington, D.C. I agree. It doesn't appear to be coincidental.
Also, Mieke notes the resemblance of this building to the Amsterdam post office building.
And here's the quite similar Toronto City Hall, which predates the Mpls one by half a century (hat tip to ToOnCa).
And Angella submits the Erie Community College building (built in 1901).
Interesting how a successful architectural design got cloned - and how durable the resulting buildings turned out to be. This might be material for an interesting paper by some design student who could track down the histories of the buildings.
Yet another addendum: Union Station in Nashville is in the same pattern.
What a beautiful building!
ReplyDeleteThat is one splendid building. The tower is magnificent. I love the way the walls slope out a bit where they meet the sidewalk. Makes it look as though the building has grown out of the ground; it's tremendously visually solid with that slightly expanded base, very organic.
ReplyDeletelooks an awful lot like the old post office building in DC: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Old_Post_Office_Building_Washington_DC.JPG/250px-Old_Post_Office_Building_Washington_DC.JPG&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Post_Office_Pavilion&usg=__TuMQU6HcrfjPkmm2afdycDthmUc=&h=238&w=250&sz=17&hl=en&start=12&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=kOB78sIBN3UfZM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dold%2Bpost%2Boffice%2Bdc%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GFRE_en%26tbs%3Disch:1
ReplyDeleteLovely building, indeed! It also reminds me strongly of the old post office building in Amsterdam, which was built in 1899 I believe. Is there something about the innate nature of post offices, I wonder, that requires them to be grand buildings? And if so, I wonder why? And why has that changed? Is it because of the decline in the number of written and posted letters, I wonder?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marktplaza.nl/Amsterdam-Postkantoor-Gelopen-1910-3109-7226402.php
or
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_T8YWx2Ucvc0/RmEXAIMlxJI/AAAAAAAABmY/-QRYf8r9I9o/DSCN0071.JPG
If you can read Dutch there is some history of the bAmsterdam post office here:
http://www.absofacts.com/amsterdam/postkantoor-magna-plaza.htm
I was floored, it looks exactly like my junior college. Erie Community College Buffalo, NY. Built in 1901 as a post office! The similarity is ridiculous....
ReplyDeletehttp://citybration.com/buff/images/stories/ecc.jpg
WE are very proud of our very own Old City Hall here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ReplyDeletehttp://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/79.php