Friday, 4/8

Remember I was mentioning yesterday about how I was a bit disappointed by not being able to hang out with fellow history geeks Wednesday night? Well, it because I could have shared information like this--

I work in a D. Fred Charlton building.

I work in what’s known as the Pythias Building in downtown Marquette, a building first constructed for the Pythias Fraternal organization and a building approaching its 100^th anniversary. For many years it was a printing shop; before we moved in, it was Range Telecommunications, and then a vacuum cleaner sales place. I’ve worked in here for almost 20 years now, and walked past it for many more before then.

But I just recently found out it was a D. Fred building.

For those of you who don’t know the name, you sure know D. Fred’s work. He was one of Marquette’s pre-eminent architects of the late 1800s and early 1900s; he was the designer of the Marquette County Courthouse and Marquette Branch Prison, among buildings still standing, and also designed several dozen schools across the U.P. some of which are still in use in places in Houghton and Gogebic Counties. He was responsible designing for some of the great “lost” sandstone buildings in Marquette. And even after he retired he still kept his fingers in the business, consulting with the architect of Graveraet in the 20s and the rebuild of St. Peter’s Cathedral after fire almost totally destroyed the church in 1935.

Needless to say D. Fred had a huge influence on the way Marquette looks today, and that’s why I was geeked to find out that I worked in one of the buildings he designed. I had no idea he had anything to do with it; after all, it doesn’t have the typical D. Fred look. It’s brick instead of sandstone, and the front of it has been rebuilt several times over the decades. But if you look up to the third & fourth floors of the building, you can see intricate designs carved into the stone offsets, plus interesting shapes jutting out into the air.

And that’s a D. Fred design.

I found out he was involved with the building from a 1980s-era newspaper article talking about one of the periodic refurbishings of the building. They talked about how Charlton originally designed the building and about how a then-young newcomer to the Marquette architectural scene--Barry Polzin--designed the redesign. Since then, Polzin has gone on to refurbish a whole gaggle of old Marquette buildings; odds are, he’s even redone a few pieces of D. Fred’s work, as well.

I know a lot of people are familiar with the iconic buildings of downtown Marquette, but I’m guessing few know who was responsible for their look. That’s why I was so excited to find out I work in a D. Fred Charlton building; after all, Marquette wouldn’t look the way Marquette does without people like him.

See? History geek, with or without a trivia contest.

Have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)