Have you been to the Foshay Museum & Observation Deck in Minneapolis?
Yes, there’s an observation deck on the 31st floor of the Foshay building, and it’s an actual museum too.
My fiance and I went on a recent cloudy day we spent exploring downtown Minneapolis. We first visited the Twin Cities Auto Show which was nearby at the Minneapolis Convention Center, and we took the skyway all the way from the convention center to the Foshay.
A note about the skyways – the Minneapolis Skyway System is actually the largest contiguous system of enclosed, second-level bridges in the world, so don’t worry about walking in snow or rain here! It is 9.5 miles long and connects 80 city blocks. That’s a lot of skyways!
Because we were just in the skyways, I didn’t get a picture from the outside, but I did get reflections of the building in some of my pictures.
The Foshay was originally built as an homage to the Washington Monument, which is why it resembles that. It was built in 1929, and for 48 years was the tallest building in Minneapolis (now it’s the IDS Center).
The Foshay is now a hotel owned by the Marriott, with the famous Keys Cafe and Manny’s Steakhouse on the main level.
You can buy your tickets for the observation deck at the hotel front desk. Ticket cost is $10 per adult, and it’s $6 for kids ages 4 – 14. Children 3 and under are free. When you get your tickets, you’ll also get an elevator card to use in the elevator all the way on the right.
With the card, the elevator will take you to the 31st floor, then it’s another flight of stairs to the outdoor deck (yes, you have to be able to climb stairs to access it here).
The museum is actually quite interesting. It’s not big, but it gives a good history of the Foshay building, and Foshay himself.
Though the building was finished in 1928, there were three days of dedication events in the summer of 1929.
You’ll definitely want to take your time reading all the displays, including the story of Foshay going to prison for mail fraud.
These are the stairs leading up to the observation deck.
The observation deck goes all around the building, so you can see all the four directions for miles and miles. You first face north. Here on the right is the Capella Tower.
To the northwest is the IDS Center.
On the south side of the Foshay is the AT & T building.
I love this picture of the Campbell Mithun Tower on the east side, because you can see the reflection of the Foshay Tower in it (I tried to zoom in and see myself – not sure I could).
We were here for about 10 minutes. It was chilly and windy, and honestly I was worried I’d drop my phone off the side of the building! But it was cool, and kids would love this. I plan to take my kids on a warmer, sunnier day.
The museum and observation deck is actually open year-round, so whatever time of year it is, check it out! It does close in bad weather though thankfully (the wind was not fun).
But regardless of when you go – be sure to dress for the weather because it is an outdoor observation deck.
Here’s a map of where it is:
You can learn more on the Foshay website here.
