Foshay Tower

포시 타워

The Foshay Tower is an Art Deco skyscraper at 821 Marquette Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, now run as the W Minneapolis - The Foshay hotel. It was modeled after the Washington Monument and finished in 1929, only months before the stock market crash. It has 32 floors and stands 447 feet (136 m) tall, or 607 feet (185 m) with its antenna mast.

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At a glance

Country: United States
Location: Minneapolis, USA
Built: 1929
Height: 136 m
Type: Skyscraper

Quick answers

Where is Foshay Tower?

Foshay Tower is in Minneapolis, USA, United States.

When was Foshay Tower built?

Foshay Tower was built in 1929.

How tall is Foshay Tower?

Foshay Tower is about 136 m tall.

An obelisk-shaped skyscraper modelled on the Washington Monument, with "FOSHAY" lettered near its top.

It was the first building in the city to rise above Minneapolis City Hall, and it was the tallest building in Minneapolis until the IDS Center was completed in 1972. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It is set well back from the street, closer to 9th Street than to Marquette Avenue, and the name FOSHAY appears in concrete four times on the outside.

A monument for a businessman

The tower was the lifelong dream of Wilbur Foshay, an art student turned businessman who built three utility company empires. He wanted a tribute to the Washington Monument, so the sides slope slightly inward and each floor is a little smaller than the one below. The building uses steel and reinforced concrete, is faced with Indiana limestone, and cost 3.75 million dollars. Inside are African mahogany, Italian marble, terrazzo, gold-plated doorknobs and a silver and gold plated ceiling. Foshay planned to live in a three-bedroom suite on the 27th and 28th floors.

The party and the broken march

For the dedication Foshay invited 25,000 guests, paid for many to travel, handed out gold pocket watches, and had the great bandleader John Philip Sousa lead music, including a special march, the Foshay Tower-Washington Memorial March. Foshay gave Sousa a check for 20,000 dollars. Six weeks after the November 2, 1929 opening, his company fell into receivership as the Great Depression began, and the check bounced. Sousa banned the march from being played until the debt was paid. Investors finally repaid it in 1988.

Going up

The tower had an observation deck, and the elevator ride cost 50 cents from 1929 until the late 1960s; today it costs 18 dollars. The elevators were made automatic in 1957. The tower was designed by Léon Eugène Arnal, chief designer of the architects Magney & Tusler. Newer buildings on two sides, including a 17-story one, now hide the views from the lowest seven floors on those sides.