Explore the University of Minnesota’s east bank campus through the lens of architectural gems designed by prominent architects and landscape architects: the Old Campus Historic District (the Knoll), is based on a landscape design by H.W.S. Cleveland; its buildings represent a proliferation of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century architectural styles, highlighted by Leroy Buffington’s Richardson Romanesque Pillsbury Hall. The Northrop Mall Historic District is a distinguished landscape envisioned by Cass Gilbert and detailed by Morell and Nichols, with Classical Revival buildings designed by Clarence H. Johnston. Ringing the district are more recent architect-designed buildings and additions by Antoine Predock (McNamara Alumni Center), Stephen Holl (Rapson Hall), and U of M alumnus William Pedersen (Bruininks Hall), as well as Frank Gehrey’s Weisman Art Museum.
Tour guide Laura Weber is the former editor of Minnesota History, the quarterly of the Minnesota Historical Society. She is a U of M graduate and also worked there for 20 years. She’s led similar tours for a number of groups, including the Society of Architectural Historians and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.