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Energy Park, Saint Paul

Business parks of the United StatesNeighborhoods in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Energy Park
Energy Park

Energy Park is a large mixed-use project in Saint Paul, Minnesota's Midway district that began in 1982. The area is bounded by Lexington Parkway on the East, BNSF (former Great Northern) railroad tracks on the south, Snelling Avenue on the West, and BNSF (former Northern Pacific) tracks on the North. It has industrial, commercial, and residential uses. Though not typical of any projects in the Twin Cities, Energy Park is a quintessential 1980s development activity.Saint Paul planners were determined to turn a liability - more than 200 acres of largely disused railroad land in the heart of the city - into an asset. Energy Park was intended as a model urban environment, a product of the mid 1970s' energy crisis, with the theme of energy conservation. People would live and work within the area, most jobs would be energy related, and all buildings would be energy efficient. Little of this actually came to pass, and some critics would consider Energy Park a failure. In 1980 the project received $12.1 million from the federal government as an Urban Development Action Grants.The first few years were certainly not encouraging. Planning and start-up took much longer than municipal officials anticipated. The energy crisis appeared to have ended thus undermining the whole premise behind the "model urban environment". At the beginning Bandana Square, the project's retail centre, seemed to be a bust. The condominiums didn't sell well. Job growth, industrial tenants, housing construction - nothing went according to plan.By 1985, Energy Park's future began to look brighter and in 1989 was described as "plainly a success". The first two phases of housing construction were completed and largely occupied. The industrial space was filling in, although not all employment was energy related. Bandana Square seemed prosperous. The centre would later be turned over to the Saint Paul Port Authority after it lost the Wilder Foundation $9 million. Energy Park was not what city officials envisioned, but it is certainly far better than an abandoned railroad yard.Factors that contribute to the success of Energy Park include the Saint Paul Port Authority's economic strength and industrial marketing skills; the Planning Economic Development's staff creativity in packaging the deal and obtaining substantial and extraordinary federal aid; the involvements of the non-profit Wilder Foundation in the housing and retail development, in cooperation with the Department of Planning Economic Development; the inclusion of representatives from several district councils in the project's planning; the various agencies' flexibility - including their ability to adapt to the loss of the project's original theme; and finally, George Latimer's leadership as mayor. The Wilder Foundation invested $35 million in Energy Park retail, housing and office developments.The Minnesota Children's Museum was located in the neighbourhood from 1985 to 1995.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Energy Park, Saint Paul (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Energy Park, Saint Paul
Energy Park Drive, Saint Paul Como Park

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N 44.970555555556 ° E -93.154722222222 °
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Energy Park Drive 1280
55103 Saint Paul, Como Park
Minnesota, United States
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Energy Park
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St. Columba Church (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
St. Columba Church (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

The Church of St. Columba is a Roman Catholic church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The parish was formed in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood in 1915. After the mid-twentieth century baby boom, the church was expanding and needed a new building. Then-pastor Michael Casey contracted with architect Barry Byrne to design and construct the building. Byrne was based in Chicago and his formal schooling ended in the Ninth Grade. Byrne worked under Frank Lloyd Wright and was involved with the Prairie School of architecture before later turned towards Expressionist architecture. Byrne designed the building later in his career. The 1949 church is very similar in design to St. Francis Xavier Church in Kansas City, Missouri, that was also designed by Byrne. The pastor Michael Casey had the bell tower built to look like an Irish round tower. The interior of the church is built from two overlapping circles. This creates an elliptical interior and an overhead profile that resembles a fish. The fish is one of the earliest symbols of Christianity and the construction of the shape of the church was undoubtedly intentional. The amount of light available on the inside of the building is worth mentioning. There are more than 24 slit like clerestory windows that let natural light in. The interior lightness contrasts with the heavy concrete exterior. The interior of the church features an under lit cove close to the ceiling. Twin Cities architecture critic Larry Millett views the altar as being small for the large interior of the building. Vincent Michael also believes that the altar is undersized compared to the size of the nave.Unlike St. Francis Xavier the entrance doors are made of metal instead of polished glass. Michael Vincent believes it still leaves the impression of emptiness underneath the bell tower. To create the internal shape the external walls are curved. They are constructed of limestone. There is a large amount of concrete and has been described as a "tour de force" of concrete. Several elements of the church are viewed as unique due to their combination. Millett sees the slots in the bell tower, the granite crosses embedded in the exterior walls and the metal on the entrance doors as a special grouping.Millett describes the building as a "high point in modern church architecture in the Twin Cities" and notes it as being removed from many religious and architectural norms. Other critiques note it as having shapes and orders that defy orthodox expectations.