1973 – Marquette Plaza, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Architect: Gunnar Birkerts Architects

Marquette_Plaza_lge

Designed much like a suspension bridge, most of the original floors are supported by two sets of catenary cables. Underground chambers were used for vault space, and an external elevator shaft was attached on the east face of the building to connect a ground-floor lobby with the rest of the building. There was originally a gap between the lobby and the rest of the aboveground structure to emphasize the construction method.

The property was built in 1972 as the headquarters for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. A new mid-rise Federal Reserve Building was constructed in the mid-1990s. A large addition to the east and a renovation of the existing structure by Walsh Bishop Associates was constructed from 2000 to 2002.