Marquette Plaza

The Northwestern National Life Building, later known as the ReliaStar Building, then known as ING 20 Washington and now known as Voya Financial 20 Washington, is an office building located in the Gateway District of Minneapolis. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki as the headquarters of the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company and was opened in 1965. The building was constructed to replace the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company Home Office near Loring Park, which had become too small for the number of employees in the company.The building features an 85 foot (26 m) portico that serves as the visual terminus for the Nicollet Mall. Yamasaki said that his design was intended to be "appropriate to an office building, monumental and dignified, yet graceful." The building is framed by about 63 slender quartz-faced concrete columns. He said the porch at the main entrance would be "delicate" and "a delight to walk through". Yamasaki's touches also included reflective pools and landscaping, and he claimed he was designing "a park with a building in it".Architecture critic Larry Millett calls it, "a temple to the gods of underwriting, built by the gods of underwriting and mixing luxury and high camp in way that, say, Liberace would have appreciated."The company had 475 employees working in the home office in 1964, when this building opened. In 1978, the company had 850 employees, with some working in nearby offices because the main building had been occupied to capacity. In 1978, Northwestern National Life announced plans to build a 20-story office tower across Marquette Avenue, which became 100 Washington Square. That building was designed to have two-thirds of its space available to rent to other tenants.

The Nicollet Hotel, in downtown Minneapolis, was located on a slightly irregular block bounded by Hennepin Avenue, Washington Avenue, Nicollet Avenue and 3rd Street South adjacent to Gateway Park. The original hotel on the site (often called the Nicollet House Hotel) was built in 1858. Named for Joseph Nicollet, the hotel quickly became a landmark and many of the city's early prominent figures such as John S. Pillsbury and William D. Washburn worked out of it. Over the next half-century it was expanded and remodeled several times, but by the 1920s found itself obsolete. In 1922 city inspectors ordered the installation of a fire sprinkler system which the owners deemed too expensive. The old hotel was demolished in 1923.The new Nicollet Hotel opened in June 1924. Costing $3.5 million, it had a total of 637 rooms spread across 12 stories. The building was designed by the Chicago-based firm of Holabird & Roche in a somewhat plain and unadorned style with four wings of rooms arranged around a central core. The building also had space for retail storefronts at street level.While somewhat unremarkable in appearance, the hotel's sheer size and entertainment venues made it a popular option. A young John F. Kennedy had been there as well as Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Judy Garland. One of the hotel's lounges, the Minnesota Terrace, hosted musicians such as Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Lawrence Welk.In the 1930s the Nicollet was managed by the National Hotel Management Company, with hotel industry pioneer Ralph Hitz as the NHM president. Hitz raised the profile of the Nicollet with his unique marketing style and particular attention to his guests and employees. In the 1950s a Polynesian-themed bar called the Waikiki Room was also added. In 1957 the hotel was bought by the Albert Pick Hotels Company and renamed the Pick-Nicollet Hotel. During the 1960s when much of the Gateway District was demolished as part of an urban renewal project the Nicollet was spared, however the hotel's age and the neighborhood's decline left it unable to compete. In 1973 the hotel was bought by Soul's Harbor Church which held services, operated Calvary Bible Institute, and provided housing in the building. The church went into bankruptcy in 1984 and the hotel's fixtures and furnishings were sold off shortly thereafter. Various proposals to renovate the building into a new hotel, apartments or office space were made during the 1980s but none of the plans came to fruition. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 but was eventually demolished in 1991. After the building's demolition the site served as a surface parking lot. In 2014 the city of Minneapolis solicited proposals to redevelop the block and received proposals from four different developers. In February 2015 the city's staff recommended a proposal from United Properties to build a complex on the site including a 36-story residential tower, Hilton hotel, retail/office space and a public plaza.

The Gateway District of Minneapolis is centered at the convergence of Hennepin Avenue, Nicollet Avenue, and Washington Avenue. Its borders are not officially designated or recognized, but are visible as the Mississippi River to the northeast, Cedar Lake Trail and the railroad tracks to the northwest, Fifth Avenue South to the southeast. and Fourth Street South to the southwest. The district includes a significant part of the Downtown West neighborhood and abuts the North Loop. In the early years of Minneapolis, the neighborhood was called "Bridge Square", because it lay at the southern foot of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge and it was the commercial hub and government seat of the growing city. An early courthouse and city hall were located in a triangle-shaped building in between Washington, Hennepin and, Nicollet from 1873 to 1912. Some of the early permanent structures on the West side of Minneapolis were built directly across from that building. The "Gateway District" was given such a name in hopes of revitalizing it at the turn of the 20th century, hoping to restore its status as the gateway into Minneapolis. Both the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot and the Milwaukee Road Depot were situated in the area, and numerous hotels and office buildings were constructed, including the Nicollet Hotel, the Hotel Vendome, the St. James Hotel, the Boston Block, and the Metropolitan building. A Depression-era renewal attempt brought the Minneapolis Main Post Office (1935) and Pioneer Square, the former of which survives. The area remains as the historic core of the city, although much of that history was demolished in an Urban Renewal act during the late 1950s. The Metropolitan Building, demolished in 1961, is the most lamented loss of the area. The area now boasts some of the city's finest examples of modern architecture. Voya Financial currently occupies the former Northwestern National Life Insurance Building (1965), which occupies four blocks of the Gateway. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis was located in a suspension building (1973) at the terminus of the Nicollet Mall. It is now located on the Mississippi riverbank across Hennepin Avenue from the central Minneapolis post office. With the construction of the new Central Library for the Minneapolis Public Library system, the old gateway has become a target for developers and planners. Former Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak had proposed a park, trees and a 10-year action plan for Washington Avenue. On Feb. 4, 2015, city planners recommended that the City Council approve selling the former Nicollet Hotel block to United Properties, a main holding of the Pohlads, who also own the Minnesota Twins. The development is a 36-story tower dubbed "The Gateway," that will serve as the headquarters for RBC wealth management and contain a Four-Seasons hotel.

The Metropolitan Building, originally known as the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Building, is considered to be one of the most architecturally significant structures in the history of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It stood from 1890 until it was torn down starting in 1961 as part of major urban renewal efforts in the city that saw about 40% of the downtown district razed and replaced with new structures. At the time, the pending destruction of the Richardsonian Romanesque building provided a catalyst for historic preservation movements in the city and across the state.

Minneapolis ( (listen)) is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Hennepin County. Abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls, Minneapolis had its origins in timber and as the flour milling capital of the world. It lies along both banks of the Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. The city, inhabited by Dakota people prior to European settlement, got its start due to the construction of Fort Snelling in 1819, eventually spurring growth along Saint Anthony Falls. With 429,954 inhabitants as of 2020, Minneapolis is the most populous city in the state and the 46th most populous city in the nation. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding area are collectively known as the Twin Cities. Minneapolis has one of the nation's best park systems. Many of these parks are connected by the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Biking and walking trails, some of which follow old railroad lines, run through many parts of the city, such as the historic Mill District by Saint Anthony Falls and around the lakes of the Lowry Hill area. Minneapolis has cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. Home to some large companies, Minneapolis is the birthplace of General Mills, Pillsbury, and the Target Corporation. The city is home to the Guthrie Theater as well as the First Avenue nightclub. Minneapolis hosts four professional sports teams. The University of Minnesota main campus is for the most part in Minneapolis, as are some other postsecondary institutions. Part of the city is served by a light rail system. The city has several first rate hospitals, according to recent rankings. Minneapolis has been a Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) stronghold for 50 years. The city uses a mayor council government system. Jacob Frey (DFL) has been mayor since 2018. In May 2020, Derek Chauvin, a White officer of the Minneapolis Police Department, murdered George Floyd, a Black man. The resulting global protests put Minneapolis and racism in the national and international spotlights.

100 Washington Square is a 332-ft (101 m) high-rise office building located in downtown Minneapolis. Construction started in 1979 and was completed in 1981. It covers 481,600 square feet and has 22 floors. As of December 1, 2020, it is the 28th tallest building in the city. The building was designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, who had previously designed the Northwestern National Life Building in Minneapolis and the World Trade Center in New York City. As with the Trade Center, the exterior of the building is composed of closely spaced load-bearing steel that distributes weight to the core and removes the need for internal support columns. A skyway connects the building to Churchill Apartments, and The Crossings. In 2015, Shorenstein, a national real estate investing organization, purchased the three buildings that comprise the Washington Square campus, including 100 Washington Square.ING, a successor to Northwestern National Life Insurance, is the largest tenant.

Minneapolis Central Library, a library in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is the largest library of the Hennepin County Library public library system. It bills itself as having "the third largest per capita public library collection of any major city in America with a collection of more than 2.4 million items—including books, DVDs, music, government documents." The 353,000-square-foot (32,800 m2) building at 300 Nicollet Mall with two levels of underground parking was designed by César Pelli and opened on May 20, 2006. It has over 300 computers for use by the public, an 8,140-square-foot (756 m2) atrium, an 18,560-square-foot (1,724 m2) green roof planted with low-growing ground cover designed to "be sun- and drought-resistant", and a host of energy-efficiency measures.

The 1891 Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is a Beaux-Arts style building that formerly served as the headquarters of Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank. The building is now home to The Downtown Cabaret, a strip club. Architecture critic Larry Millett writes, "If you step inside for a view of the, ahem, scenery, you'll discover a glass dome that once illuminated a 'ladies banking lobby' but is now the scene of activities not everyone would consider ladylike."The building was designed by the locally prominent firm of Long and Kees as a one-story building. Long and Kees usually preferred the then-popular Richardsonian Romanesque style for their buildings, but deviated from this style for the bank. In 1908 architect William Kenyon designed a second-story addition that enlarged the façade while retaining the Beaux-Arts style. The exterior is faced with white limestone, with five piers of rusticated stone supporting fluted Corinthian pilasters. In 1942, the bank moved to a new location at 88 S. 6th St. at the corner of Sixth and Marquette. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Walden University is a private online for-profit university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Health, Education Specialist, Doctor of Education, Doctor of Business Administration, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The university is owned by Adtalem Global Education, which purchased the university in August 2021.

The Pence Opera House was an opera house and later, a mission, at Hennepin Avenue and 2nd Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The theater was named for its owner and chief funder, John Wesley Pence, a financier originally from Ohio, and was designed by architect Abraham M. Radcliffe. Though sometimes called the first theater in Minneapolis, it was actually built eight years after the first known theater in the city, Harrison's Hall. During construction, the building was struck by lightning, which was called "an act of God's retribution" by a local minister in his Sunday sermon that week. Soon afterwards, the minister's church was also struck by lightning. The Opera House was opened in 1867 with a seating capacity of 700. The three-story building housed shops on its first floor, offices on its second, a billiard parlor in the basement, and the theater on the third. In 1879, the theater was remodeled and increased its capacity to 900. Along with the St. Paul Opera House, it was one of the first music venues in the Twin Cities, joined in 1872 by the larger Academy of Music.The theater opened on June 21, 1867, with a performance of Sheridan Knowles' play The Hunchback, attended by Governor William Marshall and Sen. Alexander Ramsey. Performances at the Pence included musicians such as Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, vaudeville and minstrel shows, and plays such as The Rivals, Our American Cousin, and Shakespearian works including Richard III.In its early years, the theater was one of the city's major gathering places, but was overshadowed by the opening of the Academy of Music and struggled thereafter. In the 1890s and early 1900s, the theater was empty and unused, and the building grew dilapidated. It became a rooming house in the early 1900s, then a mission in 1915. The building was razed in 1952.Before the construction of the original Minneapolis City Hall in 1873, city government officials worked out of rented space in the Pence Opera House building.

The Globe Building was an 8 floor building in Minneapolis. It was the first recorded tallest building in Minnesota. It was built in 1889 to house the offices of the St. Paul Globe newspaper (which occupied part of several floors) while the remainder of the building was rented as office space. Richard Warren Sears was among its early tenants.After the newspaper folded in 1905 it continued to function as an office building and went on to count Senator Thomas Schall and Representative Ernest Lundeen among its tenants. By the 1930s the building sat vacant due to the poor economy and the general age of the building. In the 1940s it was briefly converted into a parking facility dubbed "The 4th Street Garage."It was demolished in 1958 and replaced by the Minneapolis Central Library, which opened in 1961.

The Minneapolis Fire Department provides fire protection and first responder emergency medical services to the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.