Walk 2 – Building 6
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Marcus Center for the Performing Arts
929 North Water Street
Architects: Harry Weese & Associates (Chicago) 1966-1969, Kahler Slater Torphy (with Robert Davis, New York), Engberg Anderson Design Partnership1994-1997
The Modernist design of the Marcus Center is seen in the arrangement of interlocking cubes and a geometric pattern of rectangles and diamonds. Completed in 1969, the Marcus Center was originally clad in an Italian travertine marble. The MGIC Plaza across the street from the Marcus Center, was also done with travertine cladding. By the early 1990s, the travertine veneer on the Marcus Center had deteriorated beyond repair due to cracking and bending of the stone panels. The situation was similar to that of the Amoco Building in Chicago where the marble panels on the 80- story building were removed and replaced with granite in 1992.
In 1994, the Marcus Center travertine was replaced with two different stones. A lower course of Diamond Pink Granite, is topped with exterior walls of Winona Travertine, quarried near Winona, Minnesota.