Jan 01, 2009
4135 West Lake Harriet Parkway, Minneapolis, MN, USA
4135 West Lake Harriet Parkway, Home History Bentz/Thompson/Rietow Architects, 1986/renovated, 2004 Postmodernism in its dumbed- down, populist phase produced so much dreadful architecture- think of all those 1980s shopping malls outfitted with fake gables- that you can easily forget what the movement was supposed to be about. These wonderful buildings will remind you that at its best postmodernism was an effort to reinfuse architecture with a sense of beauty, memory, and continuity-qualities that many modernists rejected or simply paid no attention to. Both buildings, which play on the site's rich architectural history (there were three earlier pavilions here), will also remind you that architecture can be flat-out fun. Since its completion in 1986, the band shell has become a civic icon, and rightly so. Clad in shingles, it features a flared arch rising above a steel truss, with steep-roofed towers to either side. Although it's a sophisticated design, the band shell feels as natural as a child's drawing, and it captures the essence of summery delight. The adjacent refectory-a fairy-tale castle in miniature outfitted with six delicate towers that shoot skyward as festively as Fourth of July fireworks-is just as good. LOST 1 Three earlier park pavilions occupied this site; all came to disastrous ends. In 1888 the Minneapolis Street Railway Co. erected the first pavilion along its tracks near Queen Ave. South and 42nd St. West. Designed by the Minneapolis firm of Long and Kees, this pavilion was an open, two-story wooden structure that burned down in July 1891. The second pavilion, designed by Harry Jones, was a pagodalike wooden structure located directly on the lakeshore, about where the refectory now stands. It survived 12 years before it, too, burned to ashes. Jones designed a third pavilion on the same spot in 1904. Classical Revival in style, it had two wings that extended out over the lake to shelter a swimming area. There was also a rooftop garden crowned by a circular belvedere that served, none too effectively, as a band- stand. This pavilion stood for just over 20 years before its roof col- lapsed during a windstorm in July 1925. A hundred or more people were huddled inside when the roof came down, and two of them-a woman and her three-year-old daughter-were killed. After this disaster, the park board decided it had had enough of pavilions and built a small bandstand on the site that was used until the present band shell opened in 1986. Citation: Millett, Larry. AIA Guide to the Minneapolis Lake District. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009.
4135 West Lake Harriet Parkway, Minneapolis, MN, USA
4135 West Lake Harriet Parkway, Home History Bentz/Thompson/Rietow Architects, 1986/renovated, 2004 Postmodernism in its dumbed- down, populist phase produced so much dreadful architecture- think of all those 1980s shopping malls outfitted with fake gables- that you can easily forget what the movement was supposed to be about. These wonderful buildings will remind you that at its best postmodernism was an effort to reinfuse architecture with a sense of beauty, memory, and continuity-qualities that many modernists rejected or simply paid no attention to. Both buildings, which play on the site's rich architectural history (there were three earlier pavilions here), will also remind you that architecture can be flat-out fun. Since its completion in 1986, the band shell has become a civic icon, and rightly so. Clad in shingles, it features a flared arch rising above a steel truss, with steep-roofed towers to either side. Although it's a sophisticated design, the band shell feels as natural as a child's drawing, and it captures the essence of summery delight. The adjacent refectory-a fairy-tale castle in miniature outfitted with six delicate towers that shoot skyward as festively as Fourth of July fireworks-is just as good. LOST 1 Three earlier park pavilions occupied this site; all came to disastrous ends. In 1888 the Minneapolis Street Railway Co. erected the first pavilion along its tracks near Queen Ave. South and 42nd St. West. Designed by the Minneapolis firm of Long and Kees, this pavilion was an open, two-story wooden structure that burned down in July 1891. The second pavilion, designed by Harry Jones, was a pagodalike wooden structure located directly on the lakeshore, about where the refectory now stands. It survived 12 years before it, too, burned to ashes. Jones designed a third pavilion on the same spot in 1904. Classical Revival in style, it had two wings that extended out over the lake to shelter a swimming area. There was also a rooftop garden crowned by a circular belvedere that served, none too effectively, as a band- stand. This pavilion stood for just over 20 years before its roof col- lapsed during a windstorm in July 1925. A hundred or more people were huddled inside when the roof came down, and two of them-a woman and her three-year-old daughter-were killed. After this disaster, the park board decided it had had enough of pavilions and built a small bandstand on the site that was used until the present band shell opened in 1986. Citation: Millett, Larry. AIA Guide to the Minneapolis Lake District. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009.
Jan 01, 2009
Posted Date
Sep 28, 2023
Historical Record Date
Jan 01, 2009
Source Name
AIA Guide to the Minneapolis Lake District
