SW corner of Hennepin and Washington - Eclipse site
Posted: March 13th, 2014, 8:45 pm
With the proposed Eclipse project in the news, thought I'd share a little bit of history I found interesting. This is what this corner looked like in the 1870s.
The Academy of Music was located on this site, and was said to be the center of the Minneapolis entertainment district at the time. It looked to have been a pretty interesting mixed use building what with the music/arts space on the upper floors and the variety of small shops and businesses at the street level. Not to be too prejudgmental, but I suppose it's ironic that for new development 140 years later, the retail presence will likely not be as nice as this.
Unfortunately the building didn't enjoy a long life. It burned down only 12 years after it was built, on Christmas Day, 1884.
The Academy of Music was located on this site, and was said to be the center of the Minneapolis entertainment district at the time. It looked to have been a pretty interesting mixed use building what with the music/arts space on the upper floors and the variety of small shops and businesses at the street level. Not to be too prejudgmental, but I suppose it's ironic that for new development 140 years later, the retail presence will likely not be as nice as this.
Unfortunately the building didn't enjoy a long life. It burned down only 12 years after it was built, on Christmas Day, 1884.