Architectural style Modern Movement Opened 1975 Added to NRHP 14 January 2013 | Built 1975 (1975) NRHP Reference # 12001173 Area 4,000 m² | |
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Hours Open today · Open 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSuggest an edit Similar Orchestra Hall, Foshay Tower, IDS Center, Vaillancourt Fountain, Keller Fountain Park | ||
Peavey plaza training
Peavey Plaza is a public outdoor event space in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota at the south end of Nicollet Mall between South 11th and 12th Streets. The sunken plaza and its amphitheater was 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 has been named one of the top ten most endangered historical sites in Minnesota. The plaza is threatened by development, and a planned "revitalization" by the City of Minneapolis and Orchestra Hall has been criticized for excluding key designers from the process.
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Following a 2011 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" from "pollution, impairment or destruction." In January 2013, the plaza was placed on the National Register of Historic Places; the lawsuit remained outstanding at that time. On October 4, 2013, the lawsuit was resolved in favor of the Plaza's preservation. The settlement agreement included the following language: "The parties agree that the goal of any new plan plan will be to preserve the Plaza through a rehabilitation that is consistent with the Secretary of Interior’s STANDARDS FOR TREATMENT OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES, and specifically with the GUIDELINES FOR THE TREATMENT OF CULTURAL LANDSCAPES published by the U.S. National Park Service." The National Trust for Historic Preservation cited the site as one of ten historic sites saved in 2013.
In November and December 2014, the plaza was used as the site of the "Minneapolis Holiday Market", a part of the Holidazzle Village which replaced the parade held in previous years around the holidays. As of June 2015, the plaza was still open to the public, but all its water features were inactive and drained.