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MINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART (THE M)
MINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART (THE M)
Saint Paul, MN, United States
Special Mention, 2026 A+Awards, Cultural - Museum
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Other Projects by VJAA
MINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART (THE M)
Saint Paul, MN, United States
Special Mention, 2026 A+Awards, Cultural - Museum
Firm
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2024
SIZE
25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft
BUDGET
Undisclosed
In 2011, the Minnesota Museum of American Art (The M) began an intensive process of strategic planning, programming, and community engagement. The M’s vision for its new museum refocused on providing cultural support for all communities, which led to its commitment to the urban transformation of downtown St. Paul’s historic Pioneer-Endicott commercial and office complex rather than building new and outside of the city core. Its director, Dr. Kate Beane, a leader in the Dakota community, advocated for the museum’s vision and community outreach to support artists of color and partner with arts organizations in local Native, Hmong, Black, Latinx, and Somali communities.
Originally designed by Cass Gilbert, the Endicott consists of two commercial mid-rise towers connected by a stained-glass-lit arcade. The Pioneer building (designed by Chicago architect Solon Beman) and the Endicott were physically conjoined during the 1960’s with the construction of the first segment of the city’s public skyway system.
The museum’s renovation activates the unique layered qualities of this urban block and revives a nationally significant historic building complex into a museum for the 21st century. The project balanced maintaining the building’s significant historic character with museum program needs, including building envelope upgrades, extensive mechanical and electrical upgrades for art conservation, and access and security requirements.
Contemporary museum programs are collaged together with the compatible layers of the building’s history, reactivating the skyway to street connection and reviving its iconic arcade. The former exterior service area is now an interior sculpture court with a glass bridge connecting the museum’s street level lobby to the skyway. In the arcade, the original cast iron columns supporting the arcade’s artisan shops, once buried in the walls of past renovations, were exposed and the original neo-classical rhythms and ornament of the historic structure were restored.
Originally designed by Cass Gilbert, the Endicott consists of two commercial mid-rise towers connected by a stained-glass-lit arcade. The Pioneer building (designed by Chicago architect Solon Beman) and the Endicott were physically conjoined during the 1960’s with the construction of the first segment of the city’s public skyway system.
The museum’s renovation activates the unique layered qualities of this urban block and revives a nationally significant historic building complex into a museum for the 21st century. The project balanced maintaining the building’s significant historic character with museum program needs, including building envelope upgrades, extensive mechanical and electrical upgrades for art conservation, and access and security requirements.
Contemporary museum programs are collaged together with the compatible layers of the building’s history, reactivating the skyway to street connection and reviving its iconic arcade. The former exterior service area is now an interior sculpture court with a glass bridge connecting the museum’s street level lobby to the skyway. In the arcade, the original cast iron columns supporting the arcade’s artisan shops, once buried in the walls of past renovations, were exposed and the original neo-classical rhythms and ornament of the historic structure were restored.
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