Wells Fargo Center: “A Minneapolis Building”
The Wells Fargo Center in downtown Minneapolis has recently been purchased by Connecticut-based Starwood Capital Group for $315 million. A fixture of the Minneapolis skyline since 1989, the building has ties to everything from one of the city’s most destructive disasters to our own Minneapolis Central Library.
The building, originally known as the Norwest Center, opened in January 1989 at the corner of 6th St. S and Marquette Avenue. Until 1982, that block had been home to the Northwestern National Bank building and the Donaldson’s Department store. On Thanksgiving Day 1982, a massive fire--the largest in city history to that point--broke out in the vacant Donaldson’s building. No one was hurt, but the bank headquarters were destroyed.
Internationally-known architect Cesar Pelli was chosen to design the building’s replacement--a 57-story skyscraper that could hold its own beside the landmark IDS Center. Pelli incorporated railings and medallions salvaged from the Northwestern National Bank building into his new building’s art deco design. At the tower’s dedication, Pelli explained to the Star Tribune his goal for the structure:
I wanted to do a building that would be a Minneapolis building. I did not want just a beautiful Cesar Pelli building in Minneapolis. The building has to be part of the city. The city is more important than the building, and the building is more important than the architect.
In 2006, another “Minneapolis building” by Cesar Pelli opened its doors: Minneapolis Central Library, home of Special Collections.
Photo from the Jeffrey P. Grosscup Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections. Promotional materials from the vertical subject files are available in Special Collections.