Art and Architecture: The Minnesota Museum of American Art
By Joel Hoekstra | May 15, 2025
The Minnesota Museum of American Art’s new arcade gallery. Photo by Peter J. Sieger.
PROJECT GALLERY
The M’s new arcade gallery appears on the back page of the 2025 ENTER print annual, available for purchase here.
Last fall, the Minnesota Museum of American Art—the M, for short—lifted the curtain on three new galleries, a significant expansion of its facilities in downtown St. Paul. The opening marked the completion of the M’s renovation of 31,000 square feet (to date) in the historic Pioneer Endicott Building and signaled the museum’s ambitions to be a high-profile player in the Twin Cities’ art world.
“When I first started on the project [in 2011], it was really more of a gallery than a museum,” says Jennifer Yoos, FAIA, a partner at the Minneapolis firm VJAA, which designed the project. “The goal was to make it into a museum that could support larger exhibitions and their permanent collections and become a cultural anchor downtown.”
Photos by Peter J. Sieger.
The M has weathered multiple relocations over the course of its long history. The new facility, which opened in two phases (2018 and 2024), includes not only multiple formal and informal galleries where artworks from the museum’s 5,000-piece collection can be displayed but also classrooms, community spaces, administrative offices, and more. Portions of the facility can be configured for rental events, providing the museum with additional income streams to support its mission.
The Pioneer Endicott—the conjoining of the 1889 Pioneer Building and the 1890 Endicott Building—is the oldest commercial complex still standing in St. Paul. It once housed offices and a Beaux-Arts Atelier run by Emmanuel Masqueray, architect of the Cathedral of St. Paul and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, and the offices of Cass Gilbert, architect of the Minnesota State Capitol. A glass-ceilinged arcade by Gilbert, who designed the Endicott Building, has been renovated and transformed into a stunning gallery space.
Photos by Peter J. Sieger.
The arcade gallery has an elegant Old World feel. Other galleries are more minimalist and modern in character. In some areas, the design exposes steel beams, cast-iron columns, and broken floor tiles, subtly revealing the structure’s history and hinting at its once-dilapidated state. New glass partitions contrast with the Pioneer Endicott’s heavy stone and brick construction and allow daylighting to flow deep into the building.
The renovation, while respectful of the building’s legacy, also sought to create space for stories that have all too often gone unheard in Minnesota. “We needed this space to tell the kind of stories we want to tell,” says Dr. Kate Beane, executive director of the M. “That includes stories from artists and communities who didn’t have much representation previously. There’s something truly powerful about showing contemporary Native artwork or work by BIPOC artists under that stained glass.”
In some ways, the building itself has become a fascinating artwork in the museum’s collection, Yoos observes. “We didn’t want to erase its character. We wanted it to be in conversation with the art,” she says. “The building is part of the story of art in Minnesota.”
The Minnesota Museum of American Art project team included VJAA, Meyer Borgman Johnson, NV5, Summit Fire Protection, Stonehouse Stained Glass Studio, Greiner Construction, Sterns & Associates (Phase 1), and MOCA Services (2).
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