By real estate, I mean, for example, something similar to Harkness Tower at Yale, Sather Tower at Berkeley, the Chapel at Duke, Brookings Hall at WUSTL, Royce Hall at UCLA, the Old Well at UNC-Chapel Hill…
Candidates include Pillsbury Hall, Moos Tower and Northrop Auditorium…
Is Northrup Auditorium the one at the end of the mall where you go up the steps? If so, I would say that is very impressive. As good as the gateway arch at IU.
For traditional symbols of campus, Northrop (with an ‘o’, not ‘u’, btw) is totally THE iconic symbol for sure. It anchors the mall (with Coffman Student Union on the other end), which is the heart of the Twin Cities campus.
However, I would also offer up the Weisman as an alternative new icon for campus:
Alumni from before the 90’s might not connect to it since it was built in 93, but just about every student who has crossed the Washington Avenue bridge (which is just about every student) has this imbedded in their memory, and probably has an opinion on it as well.
I don’t think the Weisman was meant to be viewed w/o context but it might depend on the angle. Here’s my favorite view - scroll down a bit and you’ll see it with Coffman and other buildings in the background.
It’s a very prominent building but, IMHO, looks absolutely striking when offset by it’s surroundings - the natural beauty of the Mississippi River bluffs, and the interesting architecture of Coffman and the other buildings in the background. The Washington Ave. Bridge should be included if it doesn’t overpower the other elements of the photo.
How’s that for “real estate”? Instead of some stand-alone iconic building, you would now have a beautiful iconic image of the East Bank.