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MINNEAPOLIS – Now, there are many things you might associate with Minneapolis, but I doubt ziggurats is high on the list.
To be fair, buildings designed by Nebraska architect Thomas Rogers Kimball would also likely be absent.
But the Ivy Tower – now part of the Ivy Hotel + Residences complex – stands (kinda) tall at 1115 2nd Ave. S. to prove you wrong.
The tower is pretty unique. When it was built in 1930 it was pretty much the only ziggurat on the Minneapolis skyline and I'm fairly (but not entirely) certain that it remains so.
Interestingly, while the striking tower – erected in 1930 as the Second Church of Christ Scientist – is a mere 140 feet tall, its nine stories (plus lantern) were enough for it to just squeak into the definition of a skyscraper at the time.
The building was just one of a proposed, full-block four-tower plan that linked all four structures together with a dome in the middle, across 11th Street from the existing Second Church of Christ Scientist, erected in 1901.
Thanks to the Great Depression, that did not happen, though 78 years later, another building was erected on the land and connected to the tower to create the hotel – which recently got a complete makeover – and residential units.
The multi-million-dollar update of the Luxury Collection Hotel located a block from the Convention Center (to which it is connected, naturally, with a skyway, this being Minneapolis) was designed by Whitespace Interiors.
It refreshed the guest rooms and meeting spaces and enhanced the amenities, including new dining and drinking venues and a spa.
Now, the hotel has an updated modern vibe, with clean lines and subdued tones along with room furnishings that hint at the tower’s 1930 origins.
The tower, as designed by Kimball, had administrative offices, classrooms and reading rooms for the church, but none of that survives. I didn’t see the guest rooms in the tower, but a staffer assured me that everything has been removed over the years (or was lost in a 1995 fire).
Kimball, born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1862 and moved to Omaha with his family as a boy. Kimball studied architecture at MIT, but like his predecessor there, Louis Sullivan, did not graduate. Also like Sullivan, Kimball studied at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.
Returning to the U.S., he made his name as an architect in Omaha, where he designed many buildings and where he served as architect-in-chief of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition.
Kimball was also more widely known thanks to his two years as national president of the the American Institute of Architects (1918-20), for his master plan for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and because some of his work was displayed at Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition.
That Kimball doesn’t appear to have designed many ziggurats it would seem possible that the client influenced this stepped tower design, which hearkens back to ancient Mesopotamia.
The tower, of course, is not the only example of the example of the ziggurat influence on 20th century architecture. You can see more examples here.
His Minneapolis ziggurat – built by Naugle-Leck contractors at a cost of about $186,000 – is interesting. Rising from a wide, three-story square base with castle-like crenellations, the tower gets slimmer at the fourth story and again two more stories higher.
Atop the ninth floor is perched an even narrower lantern, with crenellations that look like a medieval Italian tower.
It’s also unique for its sort of pebble dash exterior and the tower is said to have been one of the first to be finished with stone aggregate embedded in concrete on its exterior.
A porte cochere is on the south side of the building, which had originally been dubbed Christian Science Tower.
There were no windows on the northwest side of the building, because Kimball thought one of the three other buildings in the plan would be connected there. Of course, that plan was scrapped.
Although it built a new, modernist house of worship – designed by Magney, Tusler and Setter – on the same block, but on the corner of South 12th Street and 3rd Avenue South in 1952, the church kept the tower building until 1965.
That year, it was sold for $177,000 and became what the Minneapolis Star Tribune called “a seedy office building.”
That phase is when the building earned the name The Ivy Tower.
By the late 1980s, the building was boarded up and the city designated it as historic in 1986.
By the early ‘90s, the owner sought to demolish the building for a surface parking lot and a number of demolition permits were denied by the Minneapolis City Council.
After David Kaiser considered buying the place and opening a cigar club in the late ‘90s, developers Jeffrey Laux and Gary Benson bought the tower in 2000.
A plan for office space morphed into the $88 million hotel and residences development and condo sales opened in 2004, but didn’t sell out until 2015.
Also in 2004, the church left the block entirely when the Second Church merged with the Sixth Church and moved to 1822 Hennepin Ave. in Lowry Hill.
The hotel and residences opened in the tower and in a newly constructed 25-story, 302-foot-tall building that wraps around it, in 2007. In 2013, the complex was sold to Heartland Investors and in 2022 it was sold again.
The recent renovation kicked off in 2023 with updating of the guest rooms and meeting and event spaces. This is also when Breva Bar & Grill, which serves American cuisine, and Masa & Agave, a tequila and taco-focused venue, opened.
The street-side entrance to Breva and Masa & Agave is adorned with two stylish original Art Deco lamp posts.
The lobby was also refreshed during this phase with new furniture flora-inspired pendant lights and more. Bar Edera (Edera is Italian for ivy) is located just off the lobby, serving breakfast in the mornings, along with lunch and bar menus, and cocktails.
The Anda Spa is on the second floor and is welcoming and relaxing, with a full range of spa services in a quietly elegant setting, with a whirlpool and more.
It may be the only place in the world where you can get a massage in a ziggurat.
The renovations are expected to wrap with the summer opening of Thor Cigar Lounge, which has patio seating.
“Bar Edera and Thor Cigar Lounge bring a new level of energy and elegance to Hotel Ivy,” says Mark Maggiotto, General Manager of Hotel Ivy. “We’re thrilled to share these new experiences with locals and our guests and delight them with two new places to gather and celebrate.”
At the same time, however, Maggiotto says that he and his team appreciate the history of the site.
“The Ivy Tower has such a special story," he says. "It ... still stands as one of Minneapolis’s most iconic examples of Art Deco architecture. We’ve worked hard to preserve its original character – like the limestone and exposed aggregate concrete walls and unique floor plans – while thoughtfully updating the space with modern furnishings, art and amenities.
"Today, the tower is home to our signature suites, event spaces, two fantastic restaurants, and the Anda Spa. It’s truly the heart of Hotel Ivy, offering guests a unique blend of historic charm and modern luxury, all wrapped in nearly a century of Minneapolis history.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
