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23-529: 44°58′54″N 93°16′03″W  /  44.98167°N 93.26750°W  / 44.98167; -93.26750 The Northwestern National Life Building , later known as the ReliaStar Building , then known as ING 20 Washington and now known as Voya Financial 20 Washington , is an office building located in the Gateway District of Minneapolis . It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki as the headquarters of

46-578: A state . The term "post-office" has been in use since the 1650s, shortly after the legalisation of private mail services in England in 1635. In early modern England, post riders — mounted couriers —were placed, or "posted", every few hours along post roads at posting houses (also known as post houses) between major cities, or " post towns ". These stables or inns permitted important correspondence to travel without delay. In early America, post offices were also known as stations. This term, as well as

69-489: A 20-story office tower across Marquette Avenue, which became 100 Washington Square . That building was designed to have two-thirds of its space available to rent to other tenants. Gateway District (Minneapolis) In the early years of Minneapolis, the neighborhood was called "Bridge Square", because it lay at the southern foot of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge and it was the commercial hub and government seat of

92-667: A Four-Seasons hotel. 44°58′56″N 93°16′6″W  /  44.98222°N 93.26833°W  / 44.98222; -93.26833 Post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels , providing post office boxes , and selling postage stamps , packaging, and stationery . Post offices may offer additional services, which vary by country. These include providing and accepting government forms (such as passport applications), and processing government services and fees (such as road tax , postal savings , or bank fees). The chief administrator of

115-563: A park, trees and a 10-year action plan for Washington Avenue . On Feb. 4, 2015, city planners recommended that the City Council approve selling the former Nicollet Hotel block to United Properties, a main holding of the Pohlads , who also own the Minnesota Twins . The development is a 36-story tower dubbed "The Gateway," that will serve as the headquarters for RBC wealth management and contain

138-542: A post office is called a postmaster . Before the advent of postal codes and the post office, postal systems would route items to a specific post office for receipt or delivery. During the 19th century in the United States , this often led to smaller communities being renamed after their post offices, particularly after the Post Office Department began to require that post office names not be duplicated within

161-402: Is identified by its PIN. Post offices coming under Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication, Government of India have a history of one hundred fifty years. Private courier and delivery services often have offices as well, although these are usually not called "post offices", except in the case of Germany , which has fully privatised its national postal system . As abbreviation PO

184-464: Is instead known as a sorting office or delivery office, which may have a large central area known as a sorting or postal hall. Integrated facilities combining mail processing with railway stations or airports are known as mail exchanges. In India , post offices are found in almost every village having panchayat (a "village council"), towns, cities, and throughout the geographical area of India. India's postal system changed its name to India Post after

207-433: Is used, together with GPO for General Post Office and LPO for Licensed Post Office. There is evidence of corps of royal couriers disseminating the decrees of Egyptian pharaohs as early as 2400   BCE, and it is possible that the service greatly precedes that date. Similarly, there may be ancient organised systems of post houses providing mounted courier service, although sources vary as to precisely who initiated

230-539: The Holy Roman Empire . The British Postal Museum claims that the oldest functioning post office in the world is on High Street in Sanquhar , Scotland . The post office has functioned continuously since 1712, during which horses and stagecoaches were used to carry mail. Rural parts of Canada in the 19th century utilised the way office system. Villagers could leave their letters at the way office which were then taken to

253-654: The Northwestern National Life Insurance Company and was opened in 1965. The building was constructed to replace the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company Home Office near Loring Park , which had become too small for the number of employees in the company. The building features an 85 foot (26 m) portico that serves as the visual terminus for the Nicollet Mall . Yamasaki said that his design

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276-468: The 2000 A.D., post offices would collect fees for radio licenses, recruitment for government jobs, and the operation of public call telephone (PCO) booths. Postmen would deliver letters, money orders, and parcels to places that are within the assigned area of a particular post office. Each Indian post office is assigned a unique six-digit code called the Postal Index Number , or PIN. Each post office

299-741: The Gateway. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis was located in a suspension building (1973) at the terminus of the Nicollet Mall. It is now located on the Mississippi riverbank across Hennepin Avenue from the central Minneapolis post office . With the construction of the new Central Library for the Minneapolis Public Library system, the old gateway has become a target for developers and planners. Former Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak had proposed

322-572: The advent of private courier companies in the 1990s. It is run by the Indian government's Department of Posts. India Post accepts and delivers inland letters, postcards, parcels, postal stamps, and money orders (money transfers). Few post offices in India offer speed post (fast delivery) and payments or bank savings services. It is also uncommon for Indian post offices to sell insurance policies or accept payment for electricity, landline telephone, or gas bills. Until

345-481: The former of which survives. The area remains as the historic core of the city, although much of that history was demolished in an Urban Renewal act during the late 1950s. The Metropolitan Building , demolished in 1961, is the most lamented loss of the area. The area now boasts some of the city's finest examples of modern architecture . Voya Financial currently occupies the former Northwestern National Life Insurance Building (1965), which occupies four blocks of

368-888: The gateway into Minneapolis. Both the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot and the Milwaukee Road Depot were situated in the area, and numerous hotels and office buildings were constructed, including the Nicollet Hotel , the Hotel Vendome, the St. James Hotel, the Boston Block, and the Metropolitan building. A Depression-era renewal attempt brought the Minneapolis Main Post Office (1933) and Pioneer Square,

391-537: The gods of underwriting, built by an insurance company and mixing luxury and high camp in way that, say, Liberace would have appreciated" and "a high point of 1960s modernism in Minneapolis." The company had 475 employees working in the home office in 1964, when this building opened. In 1978, the company had 850 employees, with some working in nearby offices because the main building had been occupied to capacity. In 1978, Northwestern National Life announced plans to build

414-465: The growing city. An early courthouse and city hall were located in a triangle-shaped building in between Washington, Hennepin and, Nicollet from 1873 to 1912. Some of the early permanent structures on the West side of Minneapolis were built directly across from that building. The "Gateway District" was given such a name in hopes of revitalizing it at the turn of the 20th century, hoping to restore its status as

437-499: The nearest post office, as well as pick up their mail from the way office. In parts of Europe, special postal censorship offices existed to intercept and censor mail. In France, such offices were known as cabinets noirs . In many jurisdictions, mailboxes and post office boxes have long been in widespread use for drop-off and pickup (respectively) of mail and small packages outside post offices or when offices are closed. Germany's national postage system Deutsche Post introduced

460-583: The other providing sturdy oxen for bulk shipments. The Byzantine historian Procopius , though not unbiased, records the Cursus Publicus system remained largely intact until it was dismantled in the Byzantine empire by the emperor Justinian in the 6th century. The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis family initiated regular mail service from Brussels in the 16th century , directing the Imperial Post of

483-1103: The practice. In the Persian Empire , a Chapar Khaneh system existed along the Royal Road . Similar postage systems were established in India and China by the Mauryan and Han dynasties in the 2nd century BCE. The Roman historian Suetonius credited Augustus with regularising the Roman transportation and courier network, the Cursus Publicus . Local officials were obliged to provide couriers who would be responsible for their message's entire course. Locally maintained post houses ( Latin : stationes ) privately owned rest houses ( Latin : mansiones ) and were obliged or honored to care for couriers along their way. The Roman emperor Diocletian later established two parallel systems: one providing fresh horses or mules for urgent correspondence and

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506-438: The term "post house", fell from use as horse and coach services were replaced by railways , aircraft , and automobiles . The term "post office" usually refers to government postal facilities providing customer service. " General Post Office " is sometimes used for the national headquarters of a postal service, even if the building does not provide customer service. A postal facility that is used exclusively for processing mail

529-456: Was intended to be "appropriate to an office building, monumental and dignified, yet graceful." The building is framed by about 63 slender quartz -faced concrete columns. He said the porch at the main entrance would be "delicate" and "a delight to walk through". Yamasaki's touches also included reflective pools and landscaping, and he claimed he was designing "a park with a building in it". Architecture critic Larry Millett calls it, "a temple to

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