Mather Inn | |
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Location | 107 Canda St., Ishpeming, Michigan |
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Coordinates | 46°29′30″N87°40′5″W / 46.49167°N 87.66806°W |
Built | 1931 |
Architect | James H. Ritchie, Warren H. Manning |
Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Georgian revival vernacular |
NRHP reference No. | 78001505 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 20, 1978 |
Designated MSHS | June 18, 1976 [2] |
The Mather Inn is a hotel in Ishpeming, Michigan. The inn served as housing for the cast of the classic 1959 movie Anatomy of a Murder , and was the place where Duke Ellington composed the movie's score. [3] [4] [5] It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 [2] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. [1]
In 1875, Robert Nelson, the founder of Ishpeming, built a hotel in the city known as the Barnum House. [6] Four years later, the Barnum House burned, and Nelson replaced it with another structure he called the Nelson House. [6] The Nelson House stood until 1928, when it too burned. The loss of Ishpeming's finest hotel affected the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, which now had no place to house important guests. [2]
Realizing the benefit of having a first-class hotel, William G. Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs president, financed the construction of the Mather Inn as a replacement. [2] Mather hired Boston architect James H. Ritchie to design the building and turned to Warren H. Manning, a longtime associate, to design the grounds. [2] The hotel is considered to be an excellent example of the work of both men. [2]
The Mather Inn opened in 1932, and served the community for decades. [6] In 1959, it served as lodging for the cast of the classic movie Anatomy of a Murder . [6] In the mid-1980s, the Mather Inn Preservation Society was created to sustain it. [6] However, the inn fell on hard times, and in 1987 it was closed and sold. [6]
The inn was vacant for many years, but in 2004 renovations to the building were started. [7] As of 2009, the inn is privately owned and is undergoing a renovation to turn it into luxury residences and office suites. [6] [8]
In 2014, the old boiler room and adjacent storage area were converted into a brewery named Cognition Brewing Company. The brewery served its beer out of the old pub. [9] The brewery closed in 2023 after the hotel's new owners decided to apply for their own liquor license. [10] [11]
The Mather Inn is a four-story rectangular building, constructed of concrete and steel with a brick facing. [2] The front facade is divided into three bays, with a two-story portico sheltering the entrance in the center bay. [2] The varied fenestration on the front, including bay windows flanking the center entrance and dormers on the hipped roof, make the facade architecturally interesting. [2]
The public areas of the interior are panelled in pine, [2] and include a sunken dining room and men's clubroom. [6] There are forty-seven guest rooms, including three furnished apartments. On the exterior, the grounds contain uniform terraced gardens and a huge boulder rock garden. [2] The inn is still substantially similar to its original state, having undergone few alterations. [2]
Marquette is the county seat of Marquette County and the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the shores of Lake Superior, Marquette is a major port, known primarily for shipping iron ore from the Marquette Iron Range. The city is partially surrounded by Marquette Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom drama film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Wendell Mayes was based on the 1958 novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name of Robert Traver. Voelker based the novel on a 1952 murder case in which he was the defense attorney.
Big Bay is an unincorporated community in Marquette County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place (CDP) for statistical purposes and does not have any legal status as an incorporated municipality. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 257, down from 319 in 2010. The community is located within Powell Township near the shore of Big Bay on Lake Superior.
Ishpeming is a city in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. Located in the Upper Peninsula, the population was 6,140 at the 2020 census, less than it was in the 1950s and 1960s when the iron ore mines employed more workers. A statue of a Native American figure, erected in 1884 in the small town square, is referred to as "Old Ish".
John Donaldson Voelker, also known by his pen name Robert Traver, was a noted lawyer, author and fly fisherman from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Born and raised in Ishpeming, he later attended the University of Michigan Law School. His early professional career was as an attorney and county prosecutor in Marquette County. Voelker was also appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor G. Mennen Williams in 1957. He is best known as the author of the novel Anatomy of a Murder, published in 1958. The best-selling novel was turned into an Academy Award-nominated film of the same name—directed by Otto Preminger and starring James Stewart—released on July 1, 1959. Duke Ellington wrote the music for the movie. It is critically acclaimed as one of the best trial movies of all time.
The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad, is a Class III railroad U.S. railroad offering service from Marquette, Michigan, to nearby locations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It began operations in 1896. The LS&I continues to operate as an independent railroad from its headquarters in Marquette.
The Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum is a former iron mine, now a heritage museum, located on Euclid Street between Lakeshore Drive and Spruce Street in Ishpeming, Michigan. The museum, operated by "Marquette Range Iron Mining Heritage Theme Park Inc.", celebrates the history of the Marquette Iron Range. The site was designated a state of Michigan historic site in 1973 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is an American steel manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. They specialize in the mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing of iron ore, as well as steelmaking, including stamping and tooling. The company was the world's 25th-largest steel producer and the third-largest in the United States in 2022. It is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America.
The Upper Peninsula Brewing Company Building is an office building located at the intersection of Meeske Street and US 41 in Marquette, Michigan. It is also known as the Charles Meeske House. The structure served as the home and office of brewer Charles Meeske, secretary-treasurer and later president of the company. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Cleveland Mine Engine House Number 3, also known as the Brownstone Engine House, is a building located at 601 Division Street in Ishpeming, Michigan. It was built to house engines hoisting ore from various Cleveland Mine locales, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
The Sundberg Block was a commercial building located at 517–523 Iron Street in Negaunee, Michigan, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. It was later demolished in November 2016 and removed from the NRHP in 2020.
The Marquette County Courthouse is a government building located at 400 South 3rd Street in Marquette, Michigan. It designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The courthouse was the setting of the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder, directed by Otto Preminger.
The Landmark Inn is a historic hotel on Front Street in downtown Marquette, Michigan. The hotel originally opened in 1930 as the Hotel Northland. As it originally did, the hotel operates as a full-service hotel with 66 rooms, many of which overlook the shores of Lake Superior.
The Hotel Janzen, also known as the Janzen Hotel, is a former railroad hotel at 146 West Spring Street in Marquette, Michigan. Since 1984, it has operated as a low-income shelter known as the Janzen House. Built in the early 1890s, it is listed on the register of Michigan State Historic Sites.
The Breitung Hotel, named for Edward Breitung, was a hotel at 111 South Pioneer Avenue in Negaunee, Michigan. The hotel, designed by David M. Harteau, was built from 1879 to 1880. The building was listed as a Michigan State Historic Site on June 20, 1985.
The Ore Dock Brewing Company is a craft brewery in Marquette, Michigan, that opened in May 2012. Named for a nearby local landmark, the brewery is known for being a "Marquette focal point and tourist destination," in the words of historian Russell Magnaghi.
Blackrocks Brewery is a craft brewery in Marquette, Michigan. Taking the name from a local landmark, David Manson and Andy Langlois opened Blackrocks in 2010 as a nanobrewery within a Victorian-style house. As of 2020, Blackrocks is the tenth-largest brewery in Michigan with sales across the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas and into the adjoining state of Wisconsin.
The Keweenaw Brewing Company (KBC) is a craft brewer with a taproom in Houghton and a production facility in nearby South Range, Michigan. It is named for the Keweenaw Peninsula, which projects out to the north of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Temple Beth Sholom is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 233 Blaker Street, in Marquette, Marquette County, Michigan, in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Ishpeming, Temple Beth Sholom is the successor to multiple smaller congregations present in the Marquette area since the early 20th century. Temple Beth Sholom is one of two Jewish congregations in the Upper Peninsula, the other being Temple Jacob in Hancock.