Address: 1200-08 2nd Avenue South

Neighborhood: Loring Park

Construction Date: 1920

Contractor: Pike and Cook

Architect: Hewitt and Brown

Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival

Historic Use: Commercial – Offices

Current Use: Commercial - Offices

Date of Local Designation: 1980

Date of National Register Designation: 1984

Area(s) of Significance: Architecture; Master Architects, Engineers and Builders

Period of Significance: 1920-

Historic Profile: Intended as a collaborative space for design professionals, locally prominent architects Hewitt and Brown drafted a plan for the Architects and Engineers Building in 1920. The concept for the building grew out of Hewitt and Brown’s association with a group of influential designers in Minneapolis dedicated to the City Beautiful movement. They reasoned that the consolidation of their practices under one roof would save office expenses and would provide "the special advantage of proximity and the facility for making the knowledge and experience of each available to others." With that goal, the building was designed with private executive offices as well as common drafting and clerical rooms, libraries, and duplicating facilities. Meeting and dining rooms were also provided for the building’s occupants, and for a variety of professional organizations and clubs. At night, the building was intended to serve as a studio where architecture students could work under the supervision of practicing professionals.

A refined Italian Renaissance design was used on the exterior, incorporating a horizontal organization of windows which varies by floor. The names of great architects including Leonardo DaVinci, Filippo Brunelleschi, Sir Christopher Wren, and Henry Hobson Richardson are painted in gold within the round arches of the paired third floor windows.

Photo Credits:

1920, courtesy of Minneapolis Public Libraries

2006, Minneapolis CPED

Works Cited:

"National Register of Historic Places – Nomination Form," September 1983.

Updated: February 2007