Help Bring Back the Metropolitan Building
On the evening of May 31, 1890, the upper echelons of Minneapolis society gathered for the grand opening of the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Building—later renamed the Metropolitan Building. When revelers entered the building, which stood on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and South Third Street, they found the interior festooned with palms, hanging plants, floral designs, and bunting. A band played for dancing in the roof-top garden. The full-height (12-story) atrium was illuminated by colored lime lights that produced “a most happy effect,” according to a souvenir book published afterwards. The anonymous author of the book stated, without an ounce of intended negativity, that the building was “the most pretentious office building in the city” and that it would “stand for generations as a monument to the intelligence and prosperity of the community.” Louis Menage, owner of the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Company, and E. Townsend Mix, the building’s architect, must have been very proud. Their creation was the tallest building west of the Mississippi and received nationwide press coverage. Coming as it did at the close of the decade of Minneapolis’s fastest-ever growth (the city’s population quadrupled during the 1880s), many people saw the Guaranty Loan Building as a symbol of Minneapolis’ coming of age as a city.
But, oh, how time changed perceptions! The Metropolitan’s ornate Richardsonian Romanesque architecture was anathema to the Modernist movement that was just taking shape as the building was completed. Though the Viennese Modernist Adolf Loos probably never saw the Guaranty Loan Building, it was typical of what he had in mind when he entitled a 1909 essay “Ornament and Crime.” In his 1992 book, Lost Twin Cities, Larry Millett reported that, by the late 1950s, an attorney for the Minneapolis Housing and Redevelopment Authority called the Metropolitan “a monstrosity in the eyes of most observers.” Attitudes toward the Metropolitan were not just related to architectural style. The building fell into disrepute partly because, by the mid-20th century, its neighborhood had degenerated into the city’s skid row district—an embarrassment that city leaders wanted out of their sight. And so, Modernist theory and the concept of urban renewal worked hand-in-hand to toll the Metropolitan’s death knell. The building was demolished in 1961.
The carved greenish-grey New Hampshire granite that had formed the first three stories of the Metropolitan’s exterior was hauled away and dumped in the back yard of an ornamental stone company in Delano, Minnesota. There it sat—increasingly overgrown and largely forgotten—until this year, when the stone yard was purchased by Combined Aggregate Enterprises LLC (CAE). In May, company executives, e-mailed several people in the local preservation community to say they hoped the ornamental stone could be returned to Minneapolis and re-used in some way that would honor the history of the Metropolitan. They also said they could not afford to donate the stone, but were willing to sell it below market value. Since then, they have stated on several occasions that this offer cannot stand indefinitely. At some point, they will need to sell the stone for commercial purposes. Most likely, that would mean crushing the stone and selling it for road-building.
In response, Jack Byers, manager of preservation and design in the Minneapolis Department of Community Planning and Economic Development, asked members of the Twin Cities preservation community to form an ad hoc committee. The committee, which has named its cause the Metropolitan Ruins Park Project (MRPP), traveled to Delano and surveyed CAE’s huge pile of Metropolitan Building stone (rough estimate: 15 ft. wide x 10 ft. high x 300 feet long!). MRPP soon settled on an objective of recovering only the stones that formed the Metropolitan’s 2nd Ave. entrance and re-erecting those stones as a free-standing arch on public land, preferably near the building’s original site.
Financial and logistical arrangements are moving forward. The Minneapolis Parks Foundation is serving as the project’s fiscal agent and has agreed to be the near-term owner of the stones. In early July, MRPP member Dean Phillips met with Kestner and Sleypen. They negotiated a price of $100,000 for the stones that formed both of the building’s main entrances. (The building’s two main entrances looked nearly alike, but the hand-hewn pieces are not interchangeable. So, to be sure of getting one entrance, both must be acquired. Sorting will be done later.)
MRPP member Ginny Lackovic, an architect with HGA and a member of the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission, has led the effort to identify the individual stones. She estimates that about 80% of the stones needed to reconstruct the entrance have been found. If some pieces are not found, infill pieces can be made to complete the arch.
Of course, the arch will not re-appear in Minneapolis unless the $100,000 can be raised very soon. The MRPP committee is urging all preservation-minded people to consider donating to this cause. The Phillips Family has kicked off the fund-raising effort by donating $25,000. This money will be used to acquire the first loads of stone, which will be stored in a safe place while the project moves forward.
You can help bring the Metropolitan Building—or at least a good chunk of it—back to Minneapolis! We are one-fourth of the way toward the $100,000 needed to purchase the stones that made up the building’s main entrance. If these funds cannot be raised, the stone may be crushed and sold as road-building gravel. To donate, contact the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, 3954 Bryant Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55409, 612-822-2656, info@mplsparksfoundation.org
The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota has participated in a voluntary review by the Charities Review Council. To read our charity review report, visit the Charities Review Council at 