Tune in to On CUE and explore our urban environment, taped on location—this month in a lovingly restored Victorian home in northeast Minneapolis' Logan Park neighborhood. Sponsored by the Minneapolis Committee on Urban Environment (CUE), the program looks at the diverse people, issues, trends and physical elements that influence—and are affected by—our built and natural surroundings.

Join viewers in January and February for the On CUE historic preservation show as producer and host Phill Lindsay and his guests define and describe historic preservation with some of its challenges and victories, using Minneapolis landmarks and hidden gems as examples.

Britta Bloomberg begins with the basics. While the early historic preservation movement in Minnesota probably involved houses, she says, it expanded to include early settlement, bridges, districts, agriculture and shipwrecks. As deputy state historic preservation officer of the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), Ms. Bloomberg examines both the historic side—what makes a building historically important? and the preservation side—how do we care for the building?

Stephen Osman displays unwieldy 1800s soldier caps from the historic site at Fort Snelling, which he manages. Built at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, the state's first designated National Historic Landmark is nearly 200 years old (built 1819 to 1825) and had been under call for site preservation as early as 1863. Osman describes the fort's current and future functions, which include civil rescue and National Guard presence, historic tours, a new sports facility and possibly a restaurant.

The milling capital of the world from 1890 to 1930, Minneapolis developed around the power of St. Anthony Falls, explains Ann Calvert, City of Minneapolis senior project coordinator. She says that the central riverfront, which once served as the "industrial gritty heartbeat of the city," with sawmilling and flour milling, now has a new vitality with parks, trails and parkways, theaters and housing. Calvert reveals a secret about the mist from St. Anthony Falls.

Bob Roscoe of Design for Preservation doesn't believe in "architectural taxidermy;" it's reuse all the way, from renovating a kitchen to a 36-unit warehouse condominium conversion. He points out the triumph of reuse at the Grain Belt brewery complex, now artist studios and architects' office space, where there is "no brewing other than great creative ideas." Roscoe is also a creative photographer, with a talent stimulated by seeing so many older buildings that survived, "sometimes inelegantly."

Jeremy Mayberg, principal of RSP Architects, says that he still pinches himself every day he goes to his office in the renovated Grain Belt brewery. One of five Victorian brew houses in the nation, Grain Belt remained vacant for 20 years. Mayberg describes the way "the stars aligned" with the necessary partnerships, the right tenant, appropriate preservation and complicated restoration. He says it's an amazing and rewarding opportunity.

January/February's On CUE also will feature a tour of the lovely 1904 Victorian home, comments from historical consultant Charlene Roise and a "before and after" montage of northeast Minneapolis buildings still in use with insight from some of the people enjoying them.

For more information on subjects from this show, please visit:

Riverfront Revival: Collaboration and change along the Mississippi Riverfront in Minneapolis and

Grain Belt Brew House before and after images.

This edition of On CUE airs at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in January and February on City Cable Channel 14. For more information about On CUE, visit http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cue/.

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