Peavey Plaza: A Modernist Marvel Preserved in Minneapolis

Peavey Plaza is a park plaza that serves as a public outdoor space in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the south end of Nicollet Mall between South 11th and 12th Streets. The sunken plaza and its amphitheater were designed by landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg and built in 1975 alongside Orchestra Hall. The Cultural Landscape Foundation has deemed the plaza a "marvel of modernism," and it was named one of the top ten most endangered historical sites in Minnesota before its rehabilitation in 2019.

In 2011, joint plans by the City of Minneapolis and Minnesota Orchestra management were criticized for excluding key designers such as Friedberg. Following a public meeting where architect Tom Oslund proposed changing the plaza, Minneapolis activist Trish Brock launched the Save Peavey Plaza campaign. Brock reached out to and united The Cultural Landscape Foundation and the Preservation Alliance to move forward with the preservation of Peavey Plaza. In June 2012, the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota and The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis on the grounds that the planned demolition of Peavey Plaza would violate a Minnesota law protecting "historic resources."

On October 4, 2013, the lawsuit was resolved in favor of the Plaza's preservation. The settlement agreement included the language that any new plan would goal to preserve the Plaza through a rehabilitation consistent with the Secretary of Interior's Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties and the U.S. National Park Service's Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes. The plaza was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2013.

The $10 million renovation was completed in July 2019 by Coen+Partners with Fluidity Design and Tillett Lighting Design. It preserved the original design of the plaza while improving accessibility and sustainability, bringing new light to the southern end of Nicollet Mall. The rehabilitated Peavey Plaza features new and improved water fountains, a shallower 0.25-inch wading pool that can be easily drained for events, interactive changing lighting, ramps for accessibility, and a new entertainment plaza. The non-profit organization Green Minneapolis operates and programs the plaza under contract to the City of Minneapolis.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons