---
title: "After George Floyd, One Terp Helps a Neighborhood Rebuild"
date: 2021-10-13T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/after-george-floyd-one-terp-helps-a-neighborhood-rebuild"
section: Articles
---
# After George Floyd, One Terp Helps a Neighborhood Rebuild

*October 13, 2021* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> Architect Focuses on Saving, Restoring Century-Old Structure for Black-Owned Businesses

*IMG 1233 1920x1080 — The Coliseum (at left, currently, and shortly after its 1917 opening, below) was a community hub for the predominantly Black and immigrant Downtown Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis. UMD alum Taylor (Cooper) Smrikarova (below) has worked this past year to save it from demolition.*

On May 28, 2020, just days after a Minneapolis police officer murdered an unarmed Black man named George Floyd, hundreds of protesters converged on the officer’s place of work, the Third Precinct headquarters. As the daylight waned, protesters, met with tear gas and rubber bullets, became more violent, setting the building on fire.

The burning precinct was not just symbolic of a nation confronting a history of police brutality against people of color. It was also a prologue to the demise of the precinct’s Downtown Longfellow neighborhood centered on East Lake Street, where over three days, raging fires, looting and vandalism decimated a city block.


*Taylor (Cooper) Smrikorova MRED ’12*


*The Coliseum in Minneapolis*




**Topics:** [People](https://today.umd.edu/tags/people)


**Tags:** [Alumni](https://today.umd.edu/topic/alumni)


**Units:** [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)