Formerly: 225 South Sixth Formerly: U.S. Bancorp Place Formerly: First Bank Place Built: 1989-1992 Designed by: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Type: Skyscraper Stories: 56 Maximum Height: 776 feet / 237 meters Location: 225 South Sixth Street, Minneapolis, United States
A piece of turn-of-the-millennium European architecture springing up in America's heartland. This skyscraper would be perfectly at home in Frankfurt, Berlin, or London. It's main feature is a glittering shaft that rises from a surrounding complex of complimentary, but more traditional, boxes. The eye is led up the building to its ornamental crown, which is illuminated at night. At the base is a 75-foot-tall wintergarden, a welcome refuge from the cold Minnesota winter. In spite of its nontraditional form, the people of Minneapolis have accepted this skyscraper as one of their own, though not without reservations. The building's negative aspects can be summed up most succinctly in a comment from James Lileks of the Minneapolis Past and Present web site: "It's too many buildings, and it doesn't seem to want to be any of them."
What doesn't make sense is why it isn't taller. This tower is 774-feet-tall -- just one foot shorter than the IDS Center. Would it have been so hard for someone to add another 12 inches to the façade? Or maybe cement a couple of bricks together on the roof? Or at least erect a flagpole. Isn't bragging rights to tallest building in Minnesota worth anything on the local real estate market? This is nothing short of an opportunity wasted.
This building was designed by James Ingo Freed.
At the time of its completion, this building was 774 feet to the top of the crown. Adjustments made to the crown later increased the height to 776 feet.
Joe
Monday, December 15th, 2008 @ 12:10am
This building is very attractive and when you walk through the main skyway of this property the art work and detail of how clean the building is blows you away. Plus the Schindler elevators are the fastest elevators in minnesota that you can ride, 1400 fpm, gotta go to chicago if you want a faster ride.This building is kinda metro sexual with the art and inviting colors, very worth checking out.
Brent Kampert
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 @ 5:00pm
Rating: Five stars. I like this building with it's curve, crown, and design, it's the best postmodern tower I have seen since I saw it in 2000.
Mary
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 @ 9:47am
This is my least favorite bldg in downtown Mpls. That crown is ugly ugly ugly.....
travis
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 @ 6:25pm
Rating: Four stars. weird base of the building, but that is shadowed by other towers. the "shaft" of the building is amazing... should have been taller.
Turbo852
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 @ 2:18pm
Rating: Five stars. This is my favorite building in Minneapolis.Interestingly enough, they built it shorter than the IDS tower on purpose so as not to take anything away from that building.However, due to an engineering need, the height was raised two feet to make it 776 feet tall, thus displacing the IDS tower as the tallest in Minneapolis. However, if the height of the window washing garage is included, the IDS tower is taller.If you count the total heights including attentae, then the IDS tower is taller.My source is Wikipedia and memory of a brochure from inside the 225 South sixth building itself.
Add your corrections, comments, reviews, or thoughts about this
building. Simply fill out the form below.
Your name:
E-mail address:
Your nation:
Rate this structure:
15
Your comments:
Messages without valid e-mail addresses, or containing profanity
will be automatically discarded. You're wasting your time, not ours.
Joe
Five stars.
Four stars.