.gif)
Landmark Center (St. Paul)
Encyclopedia
St. Paul’s historic Landmark Center, completed in 1902, originally served as the United States Post Office, Court House, and Custom House for the state of Minnesota. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke
, who served as Supervising Architect
of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1891-92. Edbrooke designed a body of public architecture, much of which, like this structure, was completed after his death in 1896. Landmark Center stands in beautiful Rice Park, now housing an arts and culture center for St. Paul.
The exterior is pink granite ashlar
with a hipped red tile roof, steeply pitched to shed St. Paul's snows and enlivened by numerous turrets, gables and dormers with steeply peaked roofs; cylindrical corner towers with conical turrets occupy almost every change of projection. There are two massive towers, one of which houses a clock. The exterior is almost devoid of carved detail. The interior features a five-story courtyard with skylight and rooms with 20-foot ceilings, appointed with marble and carved mahogany and oak finishes. Its Romanesque Revival architecture is similar to Edbrooke's Old Post Office Building in Washington D.C.
John Dillinger
's girlfriend Evelyn Frechette
, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, "Doc" Barker and other members of the Barker-Karpis gang were tried in the building when it served as a federal courthouse.
Judges Walter Henry Sanborn
and John B. Sanborn, Jr.
kept their chambers here while they served on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun
worked in the building as a law clerk to the younger Sanborn from 1932-33.
In the 1970s, a group of determined citizens saved the building from the wrecking ball and restored it to its previous grandeur. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and reopened to the public as Landmark Center in 1978.
After its comprehensive 1972–78 renovation, the center became home to many prominent Twin Cities arts organizations, now including:
The high school St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists also holds classes on the fifth floor of the Landmark Center.
Owned by Ramsey County, Landmark Center is managed by Minnesota Landmarks, a not-for-profit organization. Landmark Center also houses Anita's Cafe, Landmarket Gift Shop, and five gallery spaces. Landmark Center is located at 75 West Fifth Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota
.
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative federal and state governments that were spurred by his stint in...
, who served as Supervising Architect
Office of the Supervising Architect
The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939....
of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1891-92. Edbrooke designed a body of public architecture, much of which, like this structure, was completed after his death in 1896. Landmark Center stands in beautiful Rice Park, now housing an arts and culture center for St. Paul.
The exterior is pink granite ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
with a hipped red tile roof, steeply pitched to shed St. Paul's snows and enlivened by numerous turrets, gables and dormers with steeply peaked roofs; cylindrical corner towers with conical turrets occupy almost every change of projection. There are two massive towers, one of which houses a clock. The exterior is almost devoid of carved detail. The interior features a five-story courtyard with skylight and rooms with 20-foot ceilings, appointed with marble and carved mahogany and oak finishes. Its Romanesque Revival architecture is similar to Edbrooke's Old Post Office Building in Washington D.C.
John Dillinger
John Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...
's girlfriend Evelyn Frechette
Evelyn Frechette
Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette was an American singer, waitress, convict, and lecturer known for her personal relationship with the bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930s....
, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, "Doc" Barker and other members of the Barker-Karpis gang were tried in the building when it served as a federal courthouse.
Judges Walter Henry Sanborn
Walter Henry Sanborn
Walter Henry Sanborn was a United States federal judge.Born in Epsom, New Hampshire, Sanborn received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1867 and an A.M. from Dartmouth College in 1870. He was a high school teacher and principal in Milford, New Hampshire from 1867 to 1870. He read law to enter the...
and John B. Sanborn, Jr.
John B. Sanborn, Jr.
John Benjamin Sanborn, Jr. was a lawyer, politician, and United States federal judge from the state of Minnesota. His record of public service spanned more than fifty years.-Early life and education:...
kept their chambers here while they served on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun
Harry Blackmun
Harold Andrew Blackmun was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994. He is best known as the author of Roe v. Wade.- Early years and professional career :...
worked in the building as a law clerk to the younger Sanborn from 1932-33.
In the 1970s, a group of determined citizens saved the building from the wrecking ball and restored it to its previous grandeur. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and reopened to the public as Landmark Center in 1978.
- American Association of WoodturnersAmerican Association of WoodturnersThe American Association of Woodturners is the principal organization in the United States supporting the art and craft of woodturning. Established in 1986 and headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the organization encompasses nearly 14,000 members in the United States and many foreign nations....
and the AAW Gallery of Wood Art - Ramsey County Historical Society Gallery and Research Center - changing exhibits and research area for local history topics
- The Schubert Club Museum
- Landmark Gallery - permanent and changing exhibits from its local history collection
- "Uncle Sam Worked Here" - a permanent interactive exhibit about the activities that occurred in Landmark Center over its history, opened in 2007 http://landmarkcenter.org/uswh-interactive/index.html
- Exhibition space for music, dance, theater, and public forums.
The high school St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists also holds classes on the fifth floor of the Landmark Center.
Owned by Ramsey County, Landmark Center is managed by Minnesota Landmarks, a not-for-profit organization. Landmark Center also houses Anita's Cafe, Landmarket Gift Shop, and five gallery spaces. Landmark Center is located at 75 West Fifth Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
.