The Art of Architectural Detail at Northrop Memorial Auditorium

Photos and text by Pete Sieger | December 1, 2022

Northrop’s intricately detailed columns and entablature, shot with a telephoto lens this fall. Photo by Pete Sieger.

POSTCARD

Northrop Memorial Auditorium, located on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus, was designed by Clarence H. Johnston and completed in 1929. It anchors the north end of Cass Gilbert’s Beaux Arts Northrop Mall in suitably classical fashion. I first photographed its principal facade (first image in the gallery below) in the mid- to late 1970s using a 4x5 large-format camera and a 90mm wide-angle lens (24mm equivalent on a 35mm format). Since then, I’ve been back many times, using a large-format camera and/or a DSLR with a variety of lenses. Lesson learned: A longer-focal-length lens produces detail that nicely complements the overall architectural view. The image above and the second and third images in the gallery below were captured recently with lenses ranging from 200mm to 300mm.

Photos 1–3: The front elevation in the 1970s, shot with a large-format camera from Northrop Mall, followed by facade details captured with a high-resolution digital camera this fall. Photos by Pete Sieger.

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