Fairman Building

Last updated
Fairman Building
Fairman Building.jpg
Fairman Building c. 1906
USA Michigan location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location102-106 S. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids, Michigan
Coordinates 43°41′53″N85°28′54″W / 43.69806°N 85.48167°W / 43.69806; -85.48167 Coordinates: 43°41′53″N85°28′54″W / 43.69806°N 85.48167°W / 43.69806; -85.48167
Arealess than one acre
Built1880 (1880)
Built byCrocker & Hudnutt
ArchitectCrocker & Hudnutt
Architectural style Italianate
NRHP reference No. 87000072 [1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 12, 1987

The Fairman Building is a commercial building located at 102-106 South Michigan Avenue in Big Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. [1]

Contents

History

Ferdinand Fairman Ferdinand Fairman Big Rapids.png
Ferdinand Fairman

Ferdinand Fairman was born in Lyme, New York in 1833. [2] He became a teacher, and in 1855 married Julia Waters; the couple had three children. In 1859, Fairman purchased a general store in Alexandria, New York and successfully ran it until 1871, when he liquidated his assets and moved to Adams, New York to further educate his children. Over the next two years, Fairman travelled in different parts of the US to ascertain where an advantageous place to move. [2] He finally settled on Big Rapids, and in 1873 moved from New York to Big Rapids. [3] Fairman first took a position as cashier at a local bank, but soon became involved in a substantial amount of real estate, investment, and other non-lumbering activities in what was then a primarily lumbering town. In 1875, he and Samuel Potter, another New York transplant, established a private bank; in 1879 Potter retired and Fairman bought him out. [2]

In 1880, Fairman hired the Big Rapids firm of Crocker and Hudnutt to design and build this commercial block; his bank was located in the building until its dissolution in the early 1890s. The Fairman Building remains the largest commercial block in Big Rapids. [3]

In 2003, the Fairman Building, along with the nearby Nisbett Building, were refurbished into senior citizen housing, and are now known as the Nisbett-Fairman Residences. [4]

Description

Nisbett Building (left) and Fairman Building (right), c. 1906 Nisbett and Fairman Buildings.jpg
Nisbett Building (left) and Fairman Building (right), c. 1906

The Fairman Building is a three-story rectangular red brick Italianate commercial block. [3] It is located at the intersection of Maple and South Michigan, and has two main facades, with five three-bay storefronts and single-bay entryway to the upper floors on South Michigan and four three-bay storefronts on Maple. The facade is accentuated with buff-colored brick work at the corners. A metal cornice supported with brackets runs across the top; the brackets provide a delineation between the storefronts on each facade. [3]

Related Research Articles

Cass Park Historic District United States historic place

The Cass Park Historic District is a historic district in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, consisting of 25 buildings along the streets of Temple, Ledyard, and 2nd, surrounding Cass Park. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and designated a city of Detroit historic district in 2016.

Jefferson–Chalmers Historic Business District United States historic place

The Jefferson–Chalmers Historic Business District is a historic district located on East Jefferson Avenue between Eastlawn Street and Alter Road in Detroit, Michigan. The district is the only continuously intact commercial district remaining along East Jefferson Avenue, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Lake Street Historic District (Bergen, New York) United States historic place

The Lake Street Historic District is located along the west side of that street, state highway NY 19, in downtown Bergen, New York, United States. It contains several of Romanesque Revival style buildings from the last decades of the 19th century and the first two of the early 20th. Most were built after the village banned wooden buildings following two devastating fires in the area. One is currently used as Bergen's municipal building.

Clinton Downtown Historic District (Clinton, Michigan) United States historic place

The Clinton Downtown Historic District is a historic district located in the village of Clinton in Clinton Township in the northernmost portion of Lenawee County, Michigan. It consists of most of the 100 block of U.S. Route 12, known locally as West Michigan Avenue, plus Memorial Park at 200 West Michigan. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 27, 2010.

Masonic Temple Building (Cadillac, Michigan) United States historic place

The Masonic Temple in Cadillac, Michigan is a commercial building built in 1899. It is the earliest surviving fraternal building designed by the prolific architect Sidney Osgood. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Nisbett Building United States historic place

The Nisbett Building is a commercial building located at 101 South Michigan Avenue in Big Rapids, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1977 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Alma Downtown Historic District (Alma, Michigan) United States historic place

The Alma Downtown Historic District is a commercial historic district in Alma, Michigan, roughly located along Superior Street between the Pine River and Prospect Avenue, and along State Street between Center and Downie Streets. Parts of the district were designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1975, and the entirety was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. It contains 72 structures, primarily brick commercial buildings, ranging from one to three stories in height and dating from 1874 to the 1960s.

Downtown LaPorte Historic District United States historic place

Downtown LaPorte Historic District is a national historic district located at LaPorte, LaPorte County, Indiana. The district encompasses 70 contributing buildings in the central business district of LaPorte. It developed between about 1860 and 1930, and includes examples of Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, and Neoclassical style architecture. Notable buildings include the Zahrt Blocks, Ridgway Hotel (1863), Higday and Collins Blocks (1886–1888), LaPorte County Courthouse (1890–1894), Odd Fellows Building (1895), Lonn's Block (1889), People's Bank (1912), U.S. Post Office (1912), New York Central Depot (1909), Masonic Temple (1910), and Hotel Rumely (1912).

New Center Commercial Historic District United States historic place

The New Center Commercial Historic District is a commercial historic district located on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore Street and Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Manistee Central Business District United States historic place

The Manistee Central Business District is a commercial historic district roughly bounded by Maple, Washington, Water and River Streets in Manistee, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Howard Block (Port Huron, Michigan) United States historic place

The Howard Block, also known as the Central Block, is a commercial building located at 201-205 Huron Avenue in Port Huron, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Ionia Downtown Commercial Historic District United States historic place

The 'Ionia Downtown Commercial Historic District is a primarily commercial district located roughly along West Main and Washington Streets, from Dexter Street to Library Street, in Ionia, Michigan. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Portland Downtown Historic District United States historic place

The Portland Downtown Historic District is a primarily commercial historic district located along Kent and Maple Streets, between Academy Street and the Looking Glass River, in Portland, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Island City Historic District United States historic place

The Island City Historic District is a primarily commercial historic district which encompass the whole of the island on which stands the central part of Eaton Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

Weinmann Block United States historic place

The Weinmann Block is a commercial building located at 219-223 East Washington Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Wallace Block United States historic place

The Wallace Block is a commercial building located at 101-113 South Ann Arbor Street in Saline, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Michigan Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Company Building United States historic place

The Michigan Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Company Building is a historic office block located at 120-122 West Ottawa Street in Lansing, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Grow Block United States historic place

The Grow Block is a commercial building located at 120-122 West Exchange Street in Owosso, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Peck Block United States historic place

The Peck Block is a commercial building located at 34-50 Monroe Center NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The building has been rehabilitated to house condos on the upper floors.

Michigan Avenue Historic Commercial District United States historic place

The Michigan Avenue Historic Commercial District is a group of commercial buildings located along the south side of two blocks of Michigan Avenue, from 3301–3461, in Detroit. This section of buildings is the most intact collection along this stretch of Michigan Avenue. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Western Publishing and Engraving Co (1890), John Bersey (ed.), Cyclopedia of Michigan: historical and biographical, Western publishing and engraving co., p. 335
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Fairman Building". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  4. "Lisa Wall: 2004 Alumni Success Stories". Ferris State University. 2004.