LEARN ABOUT THE CITY WITH PRESERVE MINNEAPOLIS! Our popular tours of Minneapolis neighborhoods and architecture shed new light on the city’s history, culture, and urban design, from the biggest landmarks to little-known streets and districts.
This year, COVID-19 has given Preserve Minneapolis an opportunity to virtualize its popular walking tours and open up its programming to a wider audience of Minneapolitans and historic preservation supporters. Through virtual tours, Preserve Minneapolis hopes to further its mission and extend its celebration of Minneapolis to other parts of the world.
Our virtual tours are being conducted via Zoom. Please make sure that you have Zoom account set up. An access code will be sent to you prior to the tour. Registrations will be accepted up until an hour before the start time. Please sign in 10 to 15 minutes before the scheduled start time to assure we can start on time.
Virtual Tour of the Historic Nicollet Mall
Nicollet Avenue has been Minneapolis’ main shopping street for more than 100 years. In the 1960’s, to compete with suburban shopping malls that were drawing customers away from downtown, eight blocks of Nicollet were closed to automobile traffic, and the Nicollet Mall was built to the design of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin. The Mall has been updated twice since then: in 1990 when it was increased to 12 blocks and in 2017-18. The Mall is home to three Fortune 500 companies, hundreds of small businesses, and more than 140,000 workers. Every day, more pedestrians walk along Nicollet Mall than any other street in the city. It was the nation’s first transit mall (with driving lanes reserved for buses and taxis), an idea that has been copied in other U.S. cities including Portland, Oregon, and Denver. On this virtual walking tour, we will investigate the histories of the Mall itself and of 15 buildings and spaces that face the Mall, including the IDS Crystal Court, Dayton’s, the Loring Greenway, and Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Tour guide Richard L. Kronick is a freelance writer who specializes in architecture and engineering. He is editor-in-chief of www.minneapolishistorical.org, Preserve Minneapolis’s guide to the city’s architecture. He often lectures on architectural history and has led more than 50 architecture tours for Preserve Minneapolis, the College of Continuing Education at the U of M, Elk River Schools, and other organizations.
Date and Time
Tuesday, August 25 • 5-6:30 pm
Duration
1.5 Hours
Price
$5 with a $1 booking fee
To make a reservation or check out the full list of Preserve Minneapolis summer tours, please visit https://www.preserveminneapolis.org/summer-tours.