Taking the wait off

Mayo Clinic's Gonda Landow Atrium

By Kyle Hebert

The Mayo Clinic’s Gonda Landow Atrium waiting area succeeds at two contradictory ideas all at once. The building itself is a steel, marble and concrete statement of Mayo’s commitment to integrated medicine, connecting the Mayo Building with the Charlton Building of Rochester Methodist Hospital. However, when seated in the massive marble-floored waiting area it is possible to forget you are in a medical facility at all.

A marble staircase leads into the subway level where a grand piano is often being played before a gathered crowd. On the day of my visit two young sisters sang the hymn “How Great Thou Art” to a crowd of applauding spectators. On a nearby wall hangs Ivan Mestrovic’s 28-foot bronze statue entitled ‘Man and Freedom.’ The sculpture is one of the many pieces of art that line the area’s walls.

Outside you can take a seat at one of the tables in the terraced garden and join others in reading or silent contemplation. From the garden you can see the Siebens and Plummer buildings overhead.

Mayo Clinic’s Gonda Building, West Center Street and Third Ave. NW.