Fergus Falls mental hospital gets new marker
The state mental hospital in Fergus Falls, now known as the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center, gets a new National Register of Historic Preservation plaque on Monday, according to an article in the Daily Journal. The sprawling site, which was built in 1890, is said to be the "most compete example of Thomas Kirkbride-inspired architecture in the nation," said Otter Tail County Historical Society Executive Director Chris Schuelke. (Kirkbride believed the mentally ill could be helped by placing them in soothing surroundings in the countryside.) I visited the building in 2004, producing a two-part series on the mental hospital building and grounds for Building Minnesota. My tour included an abandoned playground, windswept tunnels, a coffin for carrying the dead to a nearby anonymous graveyard, peeling wallpaper and a sadness and reverence for the past. The site contains many redevelopment challenges. To learn more, check out the June 1, 2007 post, which has the audio stories. Simply click and listen.

NYT weighs in on I-35-W bridge design
It's too utilitarian. It's a B+. It's a causeway.

The New York Times had its reporter talk to Minneapolis residents about the proposed design for the I-35W bridge. She found a range of opinions from a UM architecture student, UM architecture professor, Mayor R.T. Rybak, WCCO-AM radio host Don Shelby and the wife of a man who died in the bridge collapse. Said Jennifer Holmes of Mounds View, “I just hope when they rebuild it, they build it right.”

What do you think? Share your comments with Building Minnesota readers about the impact this bridge will have on Minnesota architecture.

DeAngelo, Kodet criticize I-35W bridge design process
MnDOT chose a contractor before it allowed public comment on the design of the new I-35W bridge, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008. That's one of the complaints architects and others have about MnDOT's choice of Flatiron Construction.

"It seems like the public input is pretty well controlled and restricted to simple things like color and shape," said Tom DeAngelo, president-elect of Minnesota AIA in the Star Tribune earlier this week.

The same article quoted Minneapolis architect Ed Kodet as saying the design "borders on a disgrace because it doesn't really have enough inspiration to serve as a memorial."

However, the Pioneer Press says architecture critic Larry Millet has "no complaints" about the design and that the bridge's location doesn't bode well for a showcase project. Meanwhile, the Star Tribune editorial board calls it a design to "respect more than love."

To comment on the bridge design, complete this MnDOT form. You may want to view both options (A and B) here.

Solutions
Twin Cities
Solutions Twin Cities, a series that showcases "leading edge" work by local designers, architects and others, has scheduled a program for October 19.

Organizers say it's the only place you'll find "glocal and citizen journalism, do-it-yourself bio-diesel vehicles, urban camouflage street art, sustainable architecture and humanitarian design, Minnesotans rebuilding the Gulf Coast, transformative homeless theater, artistic street culture for urban youth and sustainable sexuality."

Wow. That's some promise.

The fast-paced program will provide a series of presenters called "solutionists" 6 minutes and 40 seconds each to "wow" the audience with their work. The tight time frame allows each presenter just enough time to present 20 rapid-fire slides, ensuring a high impact exchange of ideas.

Doors will open for Solutions Volume 2 at Studio 1414 at 7 p.m., Friday, October 19. Presentations will take place from 8 to 11 p.m. The evening will wind up with a reception until midnight with music from local DJ, Booka B. Tickets are $6 online or with a student ID and $8 at the door. Studio 1414 is located at 1414 Marshall Street NE, Minneapolis.

Malcolm and Nancy Willey House
It's not often one gets access to an architectural jewel. But yesterday was such a day. The owners of the Malcolm and Nancy Willey House, 255 Bedford Street, Minneapolis, opened the doors of their restored Frank Lloyd Wright house to the public. For $5, I got to take a peek inside, have the top of my head graze Wright's notoriously low entry ceilings (he was short), stand in the kitchen and imagine what it must have been like to live here in 1934, the year the house was completed.



Malcolm Willey worked at the University of Minnesota, eventually becoming dean. He and his wife weren't rich. But they enticed Wright to draw up plans for a house for them. Here's an excerpt from Nancy Willey's letter to Wright (June 27, 1932):

"I want to build a house in Minneapolis for about eight thousand dollars. What do you think are the chances of my being able to have a --- 'creation of art'? ... I have little hope you would take on anything so trivial that was also not near you, but perhaps the description of the lot will interest you enough to deserve a helpful suggestion or two ..."

Wright was intrigued (and probably needed the money). Just a few days after receiving Nancy Willey's letter, he wrote her a letter (July 5, 1932):

"Nothing is trivial because it is not 'big.' And if I can be of any service to you neither the distance nor the 'smallness' of the proposed home would prevent me from giving you what help an architect could give you."



In his AIA Guide to the Twin Cities, Larry Millett calls the house "among the most important of Wright's career" because "it was in many ways a prototype of his so-called Usonian houses, which were intended to be high style but relatively inexpensive homes for the masses." (Or at least university professors living in Prospect Park.)

I'm going to continue to quote Millett here because he does a great job of describing the walk-through. "What might be called the Wright experience begins here with an elaborate entry sequence that takes you up brick steps to a sheltered walkway ...



... and then to an all-but-hidden front door. Just past the entrance is one of the house's most dramatic features: a cantilevered trellis hovering above a brick patio."



Here's another view of the brick patio from the opposite side ...



The owners, Lynette Erickson-Sikora and Steve Sikora, didn't permit photography inside the house, but I was able to snap a few additional shots of the exterior. This is a shot from the south side of the house (near the front door) looking out onto Bedford Avenue.



This is a view looking into the bedroom window on the east side of the house ...




This is the sculpture tucked in front of the bedroom wall. The sculpture faces south towards the highway ...



Exiting the bedroom, looking south ... (The sculpture in the above photo is just to the left, but out of view of the camera)



Looking onto the brick patio ...



And this is the garage/front of the house as seen from Bedford Avenue ...



The Willey House recently won a Minnesota Preservation Award. (Photos by Todd Melby)

Brighton cancels The Portland
The Star Tribune reports that Brighton Development has pulled the plug on The Portland, a proposed condo project designed by James Dayton Design. The most expensive parcels in the 43-unit building near the Guthrie Theater in the Minneapolis Riverfront district had sold, but most of the cheaper units hadn't. It's far from the only condo project to be cancelled due to the downturn in the housing market. The "Sexton, Mill Trace Condominiums and a project proposed for Park Avenue and 10th Street" have also been nixed, the Strib says. To listen to interviews with Jim Dayton about his other Riverfront project, MacPhail Center for Music, check out the Building Minnesota podcast at iTunes or the podLounge.

Early UM campus drawings at Weisman
In conjunction with the National Trust for Historic Preservation conference field session highlighting historic preservation efforts at the U of M, the Weisman Art Museum will present an exhibition of original architectural drawings from the 1880s focusing on some of the earliest U buildings located in the historic knoll area that were designed by Minnesota architect Leroy Buffington.

Regent John S. Pillsbury led U of M campus development during the 1880s and 1890s. During this time, Buffington designed the campus landmarks Eddy Hall (1886), Pillsbury Hall (1889), Nicholson Hall (1890), and Burton Hall (1894). Buffington's relationship with Pillsbury began with the Pillsbury A Mill (1881) commission and other buildings designed for Pillsbury and his family members. The exhibition will display 28 drawings from the L.S. Buffington Collection at the Northwest Architectural Archive. They illustrate the range of Buffington's work for the U and the Pillsburys, including many drawn by his draftsman, Harvey Ellis. Historic photographs from the Minnesota Historical Society accompany many of the drawings.

The drawings will be on display through Oct. 21.

NYT critic Herbert Muschamp dies
Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic of the New York Times from 1992-2004, died on Tuesday. Muschamp, 59, died from a "fierce and unpleasant battle with [lung] cancer," according to Times Editor-in-Chief Bill Keller.

In an obituary posted to the NYT website, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff called Muschamp "one of the most influential architecture critics of his generation" thanks to his "wildly ranging, often deeply personal reviews."

In 1999, Muschamp wrote about arriving in Bilbao, Spain to see --- what else? --- Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao and bumping into the architect outside his hotel. Gehry asked Muschamp if he wanted to check out the building with him.

"That was not what I'd had in mind," Muschamp wrote. "I love to arrive in a new town and just walk around, letting impressions sink in, before heading off to inspect a new building. But this was an occasion to let the unexpected happen: the designer of this museum, a building already celebrated months before it opened, also walking around by himself, checking the impressions his work made from different parts of the city -- streets, angles, distances.

"Anyway, how do you answer a question like that? Look at the building? What building? Oh, no, I came to Bilbao because somebody recommended the local variety of blood sausage, or because I'm interested in Basque separatism."

To read that 1999 article, click here.

Do you have a favorite Muschamp memory? If so, share it with Building Minnesota readers.

Minnesota Preservation Award winners
From affordable apartments to luxury hotels, mural restoration to urban archaeology, the 2007 Minnesota Preservation Awards offered up a diverse array of winners last night.

An unprecedented 64 award nominations were received this year more than twice the number of nominations typically received. “The sheer number of award nominations indicates that historic preservation is a growing community reinvestment tool,” said Bonnie McDonald, Preservation Alliance of Minnesota executive director.

The Alliance created a new award this year: the Charles Nelson Award of Excellence, which posthumously honors state historical architect and Alliance board member, Charles Nelson. Nelson, who died in January, was a founding member of the state’s preservation community.

The 2007 Minnesota Preservation Award honorees, in order of award category, are:

Adaptive Reuse Award
• Crane Ordway Apartments, St. Paul
• Riverwood Pines Apartments, Little Falls

Addition/Expansion Award
• Petters Pavilion, Collegeville

Advocacy Award
• Diane O’Brien-Berge, Kasson

Archaeology Award
• Diamond Point Park, Bemidji

Community Effort Award
• Deer Creek Historical Museum, Deer Creek
• Elliot Park Archaeology, Minneapolis
• Marty Aldinger and Deb Raiche, Amboy
• Central Avenue Buildings, Faribault

Restoration/Rehabilitation Award
• Jackson County Courthouse Mural Restoration, Jackson
• Farmers and Mechanics Bank – the Westin Hotel, Minneapolis
• Malcolm Willey House, Minneapolis

Stewardship Award
• Bloomington Old Town Hall, Bloomington
• University of Minnesota – Morris Historic Preservation Plan, Morris

Career Achievement Award
• Richard Berg, Minneapolis

One of the more intriguing winners was the Elliot Park Archaeology project in Minneapolis. Since 2004, Kent Bakken has been the driving force behind one of the most successful community outreach archaeology projects in state history. Bakken, a resident of the neighborhood, began the project as a way of fostering neighborhood awareness and a sense of historical connection. Over the last four years, the project has grown to become a widely-anticipated event in which many neighborhood residents and volunteers, professional archaeologists, and local officials join forces to uncover and appreciate the history of the Elliot Park neighborhood. For more on the project, check out this backgrounder (there are links to previous year's digs) and this Downtown Journal article.

Preservation begins today
The National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual conference got underway today in the Twin Cities. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that about 2,000 people are expected to attend the event, which continues through Saturday. Linda Mack sang the praises of historic preservation of Minnesota architectural landmarks in Sunday's Star Tribune, citing St. Paul's Irvine Park, Grain Belt Brewery, Jones and Nicholson Halls at the University of Minnesota and Mills City Museum (above) as local preservation successes. If you want to keep up to date on happenings this week, check out the conference blog. You can also post updates or insights here to share with other Building Minnesota readers. (Photo courtesy of National Trust for Historic Preservation)

Hi, guys. I'm posting my podcast to my Odeo channel. It's a weird, technical thing that involves web code. My Odeo Channel (odeo/c7e83fb2d0c3e86c)

Great adaptations in Architecture Minnesota
There are great original designs and there are great adaptations. The most recent issue of Architecture Minnesota focuses on great adaptations, as in building adaptations. Topping the list is Elness Swenson and Graham's reuse of the F&M Bank in Minneapolis into a Westin Hotel. Also on the list, according to the magazine, are "MS&R's thoughtful restoration of a rough, industrial Philadelphia shipping yard into Urban Outfitter's headquarters is also featured. [...] The City of Albert Lea is ahead of the curve with adaptive reuse as it spurs the redevelopment of the Freeborn Bank building."

I haven't been to Philadelphia or Albert Lea lately, so I can't comment on the reuse of the industrial shipping yard or the small town bank. But the former big bank in downtown Minneapolis is a swanky place for drinks and romance. B.A.N.K. has already received a reputation for its blueberry mojito, a fruity, blue high. The bar/restaurant, which is in the handsome wood lobby of the art deco bank, also offers private dining rooms, which I should book for a holiday party. Cheers.

Jane Jacobs retrospective
Robert Moses, New York's builder-kingpin, was the subject of three exhibitions earlier in the year at the Museum of the City of New York, the Queen Museum of Art and Columbia University. Now his nemesis, Jane Jacobs, gets her chance to shine. In Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York, the Municipal Art Society aims to reevaluate "the legacy and values of renowned New York activist Jane Jacobs through the lens of the city of today and tomorrow using images, text and multimedia."

Jacobs, of course, is the author of the Death and Life of Great American Cities. According to Edward Rothstein's review in the New York Times, the exhibit focuses on Jacobs' view that there are "four key qualities of healthy, vibrant cities." Those qualities are mixed-use streets, short blocks that encourage interaction, buildings with different purposes placed side-by-side (those buildings should also be of different ages) and a concentration of stuff all in one place to encourage urban diversity.

Rothstein writes that the exhibit celebrates Jacobs views, but doesn't challenge them. His article also quotes a letter Moses wrote to the publisher of "Death and Life of Great American Cities." Upon receiving a copy of the text, he sent it back with this note: "I am returning the book you sent me. Aside from the fact that it is intemperate and inaccurate, it is also libelous."

Here is a link to a New York Times slideshow of the exhibit.

FLW home in stunning 360-degree photography
I read the article on Virginia Loveness selling her 1954 Frank Lloyd Wright home in White Bear Lake. It was nice. And so were the photographs. But neither print version compares to the super cool photographs on the Strib's website. Click on the 360-degree photos and you can spin around to get a you-are-there view of the house and its surroundings. You can look left and right, up and down, just as if you were standing there. If you don't have a broadband Internet connection, you might want to buy the house: The price tag is $3.75 million.

Calatrava complained to Pawlenty about I-35W bridge bidding process
The Star Tribune reports that world famous architect Santiago Calatrava wrote a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty eight days ago expressing frustration with the I-35W bridge bidding process.

wrote. The Spanish-born architect, known for his innovative bridge designs, teamed with Walsh/American Bridge team. "After working so hard on the design and creating over 130 drawings and two models, we are very disappointed that we have not had the opportunity to present our proposal," Calatrava wrote. MnDOT awarded the contract to Flatiron Constructors of Colorado.

Calatrava has many fans in Minnesota, including Ed Kodet of Kodet Architectural Group. In 2004, Kodet and a colleague wrote that “Santiago Calatrava exemplifies sculptural expression and engineering through architecture. Calatrava’s work is like music: well orchestrated. It is architecture that delights and finds new meaning each time it is experienced.” Those words are from a nomination Kodet made to award Calatrava with the AIA 2005 Gold Medal.

Can you spare $53.5 million?
The Pioneer Press reports that Jim and Joanne Jundt are selling their 1918 Pillsbury mansion for a cool $53.5 million. Located on the edge of Lake Minnetonka, the house has 9 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms and sits on 12.6 acres of land. You can take a virtual tour here.

Learn about Sullivan, Purcell and Elmslie
If you've always wanted to learn more about Prairie School architecture, you might want to sign up for an upcoming class on the subject through the University of Minnesota's Compleat Scholar program.

Led by architectural historian Richard Kronick, students signing up for the course will "learn about the Arts and Crafts movement and how artists and architects in England set the stage for a revolutionary new way of creating and designing. Through richly illustrated slide lectures [students] will learn about the basic tenets of Prairie School architecture, key figures in the movement, and how the progressive ideals were applied to commercial buildings and private residences." The class meets for three Mondays beginning October 1. (Photo courtesy of Minneapolis Institute of Arts)

Basilica of St. Mary celebrates 100th birthday
I'm a non-believer. But on days when I want to clear my mind, I sneak over to the Basilica of St. Mary on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. It's a quiet place to be alone, taking a breather from cellphones, e-mail and the struggles of daily life. Kari Vanderveen of the Downtown Journal reports that the congregation at the Basilica has spent the past 16 years getting ready for its 100th birthday. With renovation efforts in 1991, 1998, 2004 and recently, the Basilica's dome and copper roof have been repaired, meeting rooms and an art gallery have been added, and windows have been replaced or cleaned. Now through Sunday, the Basilica's art gallery is hosting an archival exhibit of the building's history. Check it out. (Photo by Todd Melby)

Watch the Jim Dayton/MacPhail slideshow
The new MacPhail Center for Music opens its doors in just four months. You can get a sneak preview, along with architect Jim Dayton's analysis, in this Building Minnesota slideshow. The vast majority of photos in this presentation were shot by Scott Theisen. However, the closeups of the Cor-Ten are a bit dated. The recent rains have given the material a more finished quality.

MacPhail Center for Music,
designed by Jim Dayton, nears completion





For about 75 years, the MacPhail Center for Music has occupied a four-story, brick building in downtown Minneapolis. The school doesn’t have much in the way of performance space. It also lacks soundproof practice rooms and humidity control for sensitive instruments.

"You can walk around the old building at MacPhail and you’re not exactly sure what happens here," said David O’Fallon, MacPhail’s president. "It does look a little bit like an old department store fallen on hard times."

That was intentional. MacPhail opened in 1907, founded by a Minneapolis Symphony concertmaster. But owners of the building housing McPhail thought the school might not live up to its name. So they constructed a building that looks like a store.



"It has some odd things built in here," O'Fallon said. "There is no really good performing space. There is an auditorium on the fourth floor, which is pretty small. Low ceilings, not such good acoustics."

Today, about 7,000 students take classes at MacPhail. There are courses on Irish fiddle, jazz, singing, composition and rock guitar.

O’Fallon became president five years ago. By that time, MacPhail’s board of directors had already decided to construct a new building. It had even hired a Chicago-based architect to draw up plans. But that design wasn’t generating much enthusiasm. So one board member suggested that O’Fallon meet Jim Dayton, a Minneapolis architect.



"I think architecture should be fun," Dayton said. "It think it should be sculptural and organic and dynamic."

The pair hit it off immediately.

"I called him the next day," O'Fallon said. "You know, Jim, I’d really like to make you the guy we work with in the future. Would work on speculation for a while? He said, Oh, I’m already doing sketches. I said, Right, this is the right guy."

Jim Dayton is the great-great grandson of George Draper Dayton. That Dayton founded the successful Minneapolis department store chain. But Jim Dayton had no desire to work in retail. Instead, Dayton majored in architecture at Yale. He later earned a master’s degree in architecture at the University of Virginia. Then he was forced to choose between two job offers: One from Frank Gehry, the other from Thomas Mayne.

Both Gehry and Mayne are architecture superstars based in Santa Monica,
California. Dayton chose to work with Gehry because he loved the designer’s unusual use of materials and shapes.

"Design is a language," Dayton said. "Frank [Gehry] might be the poet laureate of his particular Santa Monica school language. I’m just trying to learn some of the syntax and vocabulary. I’m trying to create my own verses out of the same kind of language. But it’s not … it wouldn’t be good to copy. It’s a very fine line."

Before MacPhail, Dayton’s firm designed the Minnetonka Center for the Arts ...



... and two condo projects: the Bookman Lofts ...



and Bookman Stacks in Minneapolis.



For MacPhail, Dayton’s approach was to open the music school up to its surroundings. This is a big change from its current department-store-like building.

The new building is 55,000 square-feet and will cost $13.5 million. It includes a six-story tower clad in silvery zinc. The tower contains 57 soundproof studios and office space.

The tower’s edges curve gently so they’re not quite perpendicular to the ground.



"I think a lot of people don’t quite get it," Dayton said. "We kind of joke a lot about it in the office. Initially when people see our first passes at models, very often they say, 'The walls aren’t going to be tipped like that, are they?'"

In front of the tower is a squat chocolate-colored box. The box is covered with Cor-Ten steel. It’s a material favored by many sculptors. It turns a rich, velvety brown as it ages. Inside the box is a large performance space. A giant picture window gives musicians a chance to share their talents with the city.



"This building is exciting because it’s open," O'Fallon said. "It reveals to the world. Something really interesting is going on here."

Vincent James is one of the city’s best-known architects. He’s been watching the construction of the MacPhail Center for Music. "Minnesotans are sometimes a little conservative about materials and form and their aspirations for architecture," James said. "And Jim’s building is bold and confident."



MacPhail Center for Music is scheduled to open in January 2008.

To listen to an audio version of this story, subscribe to the Building Minnesota podcast at iTunes or the podlounge.

(Photo of current MacPhail Center for Music by Todd Melby. Photo of Minnetonka Center for Arts and models of MacPhail courtesy of James Dayton Design. All other photos by Scott Theisen.)