St. Paul's historic Landmark Center, completed in 1902, originally served as the United States Post Office, Courthouse, and Custom House for the state of Minnesota. It was designed by

Willoughby J. Edbrooke Willoughby James Edbrooke (1843–1896) was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative ...

, who served as

Supervising Architect The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939. The office handled some of the most important architectural commissions of the nineteenth ...

of the

U.S. Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and th ...

in 1891–92. Edbrooke designed a body of public architecture, much of which, like this structure, was completed after his 1896 death. Landmark Center stands at 75 West Fifth Street in

Rice Park Rice Park is a public park in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Features of the park include a fountain, a bandstand, sculptures of characters from the ''Peanuts'' cartoons and an ice-rink during the winter months. Rice Park is on ...

and is now an arts and culture center. The exterior is pink granite

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

with a hipped red tile roof, steeply pitched to shed snow and adorned by numerous turrets, gables and dormers with steeply peaked roofs; cylindrical corner towers with conical turrets occupy almost every change of projection. There are two massive towers, one of which houses a clock. The exterior is almost devoid of carved detail. The interior features a five-story courtyard with skylight and rooms with 20-foot ceilings, appointed with marble and carved mahogany and oak finishes. Its

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

architecture is similar to Edbrooke's Old Post Office Building in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times and ...

's girlfriend

Evelyn Frechette Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette (September 15, 1907 – January 13, 1969) was an American Menominee singer, waitress, convict, and lecturer known for her personal relationship with the bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930s. Frechette is ...

, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, "Doc" Barker and other members of the Barker-Karpis gang were tried in the building when it served as a federal courthouse. Judges Walter Henry Sanborn and

John B. Sanborn Jr. John Benjamin Sanborn Jr. (November 9, 1883 – March 7, 1964) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for ...

kept their chambers here while serving on the

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western Distr ...

. U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Harry Blackmun Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. Appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon, Blac ...

worked in the building as a law clerk to the younger Sanborn in 1932–33. In the 1970s, a citizens' group saved the building from demolition and restored it to its previous grandeur. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and reopened to the public as Landmark Center in 1978. LandmarkCenterCortile

After its comprehensive 1972–78 renovation, the center became home to many prominent Twin Cities arts organizations, now including: *

American Association of Woodturners The American Association of Woodturners (AAW) is the principal organization in the United States supporting the art and craft of woodturning. It is sometimes stylized as American Association of Wood Turners (AAW). Established in 1986 and headquart ...

and the AAW Gallery of Wood Art * Ramsey County Historical Society Gallery and Research Center – changing exhibits and research area for local history topics * The Schubert Club Museum of musical instruments * Landmark Gallery – permanent and temporary exhibits from its local history collection * "Uncle Sam Worked Here", a permanent interactive exhibit opened in 2007 about activities in Landmark Center over its historyhttp://landmarkcenter.org/uswh-interactive/index.html * Exhibition space for music, dance, theater, and public forums. For a time the high schoo
St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists
also held classes on the fifth floor. It has since moved to 16 West 5th Street. The fifth floor now houses the offices of th
American Composers Forum
Owned by Ramsey County, Landmark Center is managed by Minnesota Landmarks, a not-for-profit organization. Landmark Center also houses Anita's Cafe, Landmarket Gift Shop, and five galleries.

In popular culture

The building served as the location of Frank Bass (

Ed Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' an ...

)'s office in the 1974 film ''

The Wrestler The Wrestler may refer to: * ''The Wrestler'' (1974 film), an American film directed by James A. Westman * ''The Wrestler'' (2008 film), an American film directed by Darren Aronofsky * "The Wrestler" (song), a song from the 2008 film written and ...

''.

References

External links

* *
Photos of Federal Courts Building
at the MNHS
Photos of U. S. Post Office
at the MNHS
Ramsey County Historical Society

Press article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press about the "Uncle Sam Worked Here" exhibit
{{Authority control Clock towers in Minnesota Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Government buildings completed in 1901 History museums in Minnesota Museums in Saint Paul, Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Saint Paul, Minnesota Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Minnesota Tourist attractions in Saint Paul, Minnesota