Foshay Tower

Foshay Tower
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Minneapolis Landmark
The Foshay Tower, looking east.
Location	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Coordinates	44°58′28″N 93°16′17.5″W
Built	August 30, 1929 (August 30, 1929)
Architect	Léon Eugène Arnal, Magney & Tusler, Inc.
Architectural style	Art Deco
NRHP reference No.	78001538
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 20, 1978
Designated MPLSL	1984

Elevator doors

The Foshay Tower is a skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota that is 32-stories, 447 feet (136 m) tall. Completed in 1929, the Foshay Tower was built in the art deco style and modeled after the Washington Monument. For 43 years, from 1929 until 1972, it was the tallest building in Minneapolis and the tallest building in Minnesota. When it was built, it was also the tallest building between Chicago and the Pacific Ocean. The historic building is still one of the most prominent buildings in Minneapolis; it houses the city's only observation deck which has views of the city and the surrounding area.

The Foshay Tower was built in the late 1920s by local utilities magnate Wilbur Foshay to house the headquarters of his corporation, the W.B. Foshay Company, and serve as a symbol of his wealth. The building is designed with expensive materials, including gold-platted fixtures and Italian marble. Its dedication ceremony was a major civic event in the city with parades and a march composed by John Philip Sousa. However, a few moths later in October of 1929, the stock market crashed decimating Foshay's fortune and sending him into bankruptcy. It was succeeded in height by the IDS Center in 1972. which is still the tallest building in the city and state. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is now home to a hotel, the W Minneapolis – The Foshay.

The sides of the top of the landmark building is styled with 10-foot tall lighted signs displaying "FOSHAY". The top of the building has a 160 feet (49 m) communication antenna and the roof the building once home to more communication equipment for radio and television broadcasts.

Early skyscraper

The Foshay Tower marked a significant landmark locally in the push skyward, as the tower was the first in the city to surpass the height of Minneapolis City Hall, completed in 1906. For 43 years (1929 until 1972), it was the tallest building in Minneapolis, the tallest building in Minnesota, and, when it was built, it was also the tallest building between Chicago and the Pacific Ocean. It remained the tallest building in Minneapolis until the IDS Center surpassed it in 1972.

Structure and interior

The building was designed to echo the Washington Monument, as Foshay had promised his father when he visited when he was a child.

The sides of the building slope slightly inward, and each floor of the Foshay Tower is slightly smaller than the one below it. It is also unusual in that the tower is set back from the street, with a two-story structure surrounding it on the Marquette Avenue and 9th Street sides. The other two sides of the building, facing 8th Street and 2nd Avenue, are now surrounded by the TCF Tower, which rises to 17 stories on the 2nd Avenue side and entirely obscures the views from the windows of the first seven stories of the Foshay Tower on the 2nd Avenue and 8th Street sides. Internally the building uses steel and reinforced concrete. The exterior is faced with Indiana limestone, while the interior features African Mahogany, Italian marble, terrazzo, gold-plated doorknobs, a silver and gold plated ceiling, beautiful ornamental bronze entrances and work throughout the building (made by Crown Iron Works Company of Minneapolis), hand wrought iron and three commissioned busts of George Washington. It cost US$ 3.75 million (around $600 million in 2022) to build. From the Marquette Avenue side of the structure, the name, "Foshay," is visible in concrete four times on the exterior of the building (once on the top and three times on the street level).

Some of the buildings original features were restored during the 2000s remodel.

Dedication

Foshay Tower was the lifelong dream and namesake of Wilbur Foshay, an art student turned businessman who amassed his fortune by building up three utility company empires (operating as the W. B. Foshay Company). At the time the tower was being built, he had sold his previous two empires in turn and was building up his third (which was eventually to stretch from Alaska to Nicaragua). He planned to locate his business and residence on the 27th and 28th floors where a three-bedroom, three-bath suite was built, with a fireplace and library, Italian Siena marble walls and glass-paneled ceilings.

Foshay invited 25,000 guests to the dedication ceremony and provided all-expenses paid trips to many who included cabinet members, senators and congressmen. Half-nude dancers entertained. Each guest received a gold pocketwatch. The military gave 19-gun salutes. John Philip Sousa conducted music, including the "Foshay Tower–Washington Memorial March," a march he wrote for the occasion. Foshay presented Sousa with a check for US$20,000.

The march was only played once during Foshay's lifetime. Six weeks after the building's opening on November 2, 1929, Foshay's corporate empire was thrown into receivership at the onset of the Great Depression. Ignominiously, Foshay's check to Sousa bounced, and in retaliation, Sousa prohibited the playing of the march so long as Foshay's debt to him remained outstanding. Foshay never lived in his new home, which also went into receivership. It wasn't until 1988 when a group of Minnesota investors repaid Foshay's debt to Sousa's estate that the march was permitted to be played in public again.

Magney & Tusler

The Foshay was designed by Léon Eugène Arnal (1881–1963), chief designer for the architects Magney & Tusler, later known as Setter, Leach & Lindstrom, which was acquired by Leo A. Daly in 2003.

The building has the name "FOSHAY" in 10 foot (3 m) lighted letters on all four sides just below the top. A U.S. patent for this display technique was filed in 1929 by Gottlieb R. Magney, Wilbur Tusler and Arnal and granted in 1931, assigned to the W. B. Foshay Co.

Later use

The tower was headquarters for Citizens Utilities, the successor to Foshay's company.

Foshay Tower and surrounding buildings

In January 1981, the building was wrapped in a huge yellow ribbon during the final days of the Iran hostage crisis. Once the hostages returned to the United States, the ribbon was moved to the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul so that people could sign it. The ribbon is now in the Minnesota Historical Society.

The antenna on the roof has been used by various broadcasters, including television stations WTCN (now KARE), WCCO and KMSP. Radio station KFAI has been broadcasting from the tower since 1984, but moved their transmission tower to the IDS Center in March 2007, due to the W Hotel renovation. Around 1980, when the Foshay was still one of the tallest buildings in Minneapolis, the pyramidal top was covered with numerous pieces of radio transmitting equipment.

The structure's street level establishments once included Cafe Un Deux Trois, notable for having Andrew Zimmern as Executive Chef for its first 41⁄2-years, and Peter's Grill, Minneapolis's oldest restaurant, was located across the street.

The Norwegian consulate was located in the tower until 2007, when it moved to the AT&T Tower across the street.

Conversion to W Hotel

On September 4, 2006, it was reported that developers Ralph W. Burnet and Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies would spend as much as $90 million to convert the 32-story office tower into a 230-room W Hotel. All tenants with the exception of Keys Café on the first floor moved out.

A unique finding occurred at the tower when workers were replacing the ceiling in the hotel's lobby. When the lobby ceiling was removed, they discovered the room's original ceiling, complete with intricate engravings and embossed with various logos. However, due to past renovation work and age, the ceiling had deteriorated and was badly damaged. It has been reported that workers are currently in the process of restoring the original ceiling at the behest of the National Register of Historic Places, a process which will take a total of four months alone.

The renovated W Minneapolis – The Foshay opened on August 13, 2008. The hotel retains the 30th floor observation deck and converted Wilbur Foshay's former boardroom on the 27th floor into the Prohibition Sky Bar.

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Minnesota
• List of tallest buildings in Minneapolis

References

• Bill Buzenberg (February 1, 2000). Mr. Foshay's Legend. Minnesota Public Radio.
• "Foshay Tower". SkyscraperPage.
• Foshay Tower. Minnesota Historical Society.
• NY Times article: "Foshay Companies Fail for $20,000,000" New York Times, November 2, 1929

External links

• Foshay Tower, Minneapolis in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia
• Official website
• Foshay Tower March by John Philip Sousa

Photos at the Hennepin County Library

• Foshay Tower
• Portrait of Wilbur Foshay
• John Philip Sousa at dedication of Foshay Tower

Photos at the Minnesota Historical Society

• Foshay Tower