A cold day in November, walking the skyways, crossing over 5th Street and heading into the Soo Line building, I look up at this great downtown view. Not all Minneapolis “skyways” live up to the name and actually let in the sky like this one. An 8mm fisheye lens takes it all in.
The Soo Line Building opened in 1915. At 19 stories it was the tallest building in Minneapolis until the Foshay Tower went up in 1929. Today, it’s luxury apartments. This skyway connects it to the 5th Street Towers, seen at the top of the photo.
It was originally the First National Bank of Minneapolis but later the headquarters of the Soo Line Railroad. “Soo” isn’t a misspelling of Sioux, it’s a reference to Sault St. Marie. The reason for the phonetic spelling seems to be lost in the mists of time.
There’s a nice coffee shop in this building called “Beancounter“. I like to sit there and think about… stuff.