The Andrus Building (1898)

The Andrus Building

500 Nicollet Mall

Architects: Long & Long

1983 renovation by Miller, Hanson, Westerbeck and Bell Architects

2018-19 renovation by RSP Architects and Mortenson Construction

This 140,000 sq. ft. office building was originally named the Andrus Building in honor of New Yorker John Emory Andrus who financed its construction. Andrus was the mayor of Yonkers, New York, a congressman, and one of the richest men in the world when the building was built.

The building was renamed Renaissance Square in 1983 when it was renovated by architects Miller, Hanson, Westerbeck and Bell.

The busy brick exterior of the upper floors is not structural. The building is an early example of a steel “cage” frame made up of vertical posts and horizontal beams.

Stylistically, the Andrus is a mixture. It’s mostly Neoclassical – in other words, the forms are based on the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. But the gigantic pilasters – those columns that appear to have been squashed flat against the walls — and the grouped windows between the pilasters — show the influence of architect Louis Sullivan who, in 1896, wrote that the tallness of a tall building should be emphasized by long vertical lines.

In keeping with the tradition of Greek architecture, the Andrus has a clearly defined base (the first two floors), a mid-section, and a decorative cornice at the top. Just below the cornice on the corner, two volutes (scroll-like elements sometimes called 'ears') are sandwiched together and turned out at a 45-degree angle.

The architects, Franklin Long, and his son, Louis, also designed the Radisson Hotel on 7th Street between Nicollet and Hennepin and the Plymouth Building on 6th and Hennepin. Previously the elder Franklin had partnered with Frederick Kees to design many buildings in Minneapolis, including City Hall.