I was in Minneapolis for the Christmas holiday, and took a venture downtown to look around. I didn’t have a particular destination, I was just walking around as it had been a long time since I had been downtown despite several recent visits to Minnesota to visit family. At any rate, I walked by this building, the Minneapolis Armory, and was struck by the architecture. I took these pictures assuming it was an art deco building, based on the decorative elements of the doors along with the strong horizontal lines and the round shapes interspersed with the additional horizontal lines in the window gates above the door. However, upon doing a little research on this building upon my return home to New Jersey, I see that rather than art deco, it’s referred to as having a “PWA Moderne style,” which – to be honest – I had never heard of before.
Here’s a better look at the full front of the building; scroll down below the picture for more on the history of this building and an explanation of PWA Moderne architecture.
The Minneapolis Armory was built in 1936 at the direction of the Public Works Administration, and was, as typical for an armory building, occupied by several Army and Naval units of the Minnesota National Guard for decades. But during this time, it was also used was used by the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers as a part-time home court between 1947 and 1959. It’s funny, I often run into sports fans who talk about the Los Angeles Lakers, not knowing they were originally from Minnesota (the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”), and I’ll say: “how many lakes are there in L.A.? (If you’d like an answer, there’s 22 lakes in Los Angeles, according to my research).
Back to the designation of the style as “PWA Moderne.” Obviously, “PWA” is short for “Public Works Administration,” and PWA Moderne is described as combining elements of neoclassical, Beauxs-Arts, and Art Deco styles, with an emphasis on strong geometry, bold contouring and integrated sculpture ornamentation, all of which you can see in the picture above. Thousands of structures around the United States were constructed between 1933 and 1944 utilizing the PWA Moderne style as a result of Presidents Roosevelt’s New Deal. One of the most-famous examples of the PWA Moderne style is the Hoover Dam, located in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between Nevada and Arizona.
I didn’t get a chance to go inside, and I’m not sure if it’s open to the public for anyone to just walk in off the street, but it is still used in active ways as a 8,400-seat event center and concert venue.