Longyear Building

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Longyear Building
Longyear Building Marquette MI 2009.jpg
Longyear Building from across the street
USA Michigan location map.svg
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Location210 North Front St., Marquette, Michigan
Coordinates 46°32′40″N87°23′32″W / 46.54444°N 87.39222°W / 46.54444; -87.39222 Coordinates: 46°32′40″N87°23′32″W / 46.54444°N 87.39222°W / 46.54444; -87.39222
Built1916
Built byJohn Simon Wahlman
ArchitectDemetrius Frederick Charlton
Architectural style Tudor Revival
NRHP reference # 04000657 [1]
Added to NRHPJuly 01, 2004

The Longyear Building is a commercial structure located at 210 North Front Street in Marquette, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. [1]

Marquette, Michigan City in Michigan, United States

Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the largest city of the state's Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, known primarily for shipping iron ore, and is the home of Northern Michigan University. In 2012, Marquette was listed among the 10 best places to retire in the United States by CBS MoneyWatch.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

Contents

History

John Munro Longyear was born in 1850 to of Lansing attorney and U.S. Congressman John W. Longyear. John M. left school at age fifteen and worked at a variety of jobs coming to Marquette in 1873. Between 1873 and 1878, Longyear assessed the value of timber and mineral resources on land throughout the Upper Peninsula for a variety of clients. In 1878 the Lake Superior Ship Canal, Railway and Iron Company hired him as a land agent to assess the land they had been granted. Soon Frederick Ayer, the controlling partner of the company, hired Longyear to find and buy land for his personal investment, offering Longyear half interest in the land. Through this and similar partnerships, Longyear amassed a large amount of land that he personally controlled. In 1890, he branched into mining interests, as well as timber and financial investments. [2]

John Munro Longyear American mayor, businessman and philanthropist

John Munro Longyear, Sr. was a noted developer of timber and mineral lands in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, who became the central figure behind the Arctic Coal Company, which surveyed and mined coalfields on Spitsbergen, now Svalbard, from 1905 to 1916. This company developed a settlement on Spitsbergen able to accommodate up to around 500 people which became known as Longyear City, now Longyearbyen, adjacent Advent Bay.

John Wesley Longyear was an American politician and judge for the U.S. state of Michigan.

Frederick Ayer American businessman

Frederick Ayer was an American businessman and the younger brother of patent medicine tycoon Dr. James Cook Ayer. In addition to his involvement in the patent medicine business, he is better known for his work in the textile industry. After buying the Tremont and Suffolk mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, he bought up many textile operations in nearby Lawrence, combining them in 1899 into the American Woolen Company, of which he was the first president. He was involved in other businesses of the time as well, such as being the co-founder of the Arctic Coal Company. He died on March 14, 1918, in Thomasville, Georgia, and is interred at Lowell Cemetery.

Longyear was also elected as mayor of Marquette in 1890 and 1891, and supported numerous philanthropies in the city. However, in 1900 the city of Marquette supported plans to build a railroad line along the shoreline in front of the Longyear home, and Longyear moved both his family and his mansion to Brookline, Massachusetts. The Longyear business was still headquartered in Marquette, and Longyear would often travel back and forth. [2]

Brookline, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and is a part of Greater Boston. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury. The city of Newton lies to the west of Brookline.

By 1915, Longyear's staff in Marquette was outgrowing their offices in the Marquette National Bank Building. Longyear decided to construct his own office building, and purchased a lot, then occupied by a boarding house, on the corner of Front and Bluff Streets. He hired the architectural firm of Charlton and Kuenzli to design the office building and John Simon Wahlman as a general contractor. Construction of the Longyear Building began in late spring 1916 and the structure was complete by early 1917. The structure included ground level retail space, accessed from Bluff Street, general and private offices for Longyear's firm on the first floor, and three suites of rooms on the second floor. These were used by John Longyear himself, his business guests, and a caretaker. [2]

John Longyear continued to use the building until his death in 1922. His estate was divided into three companies: Longyear Corporation, Longyear Estate, Inc., and Longyear Realty Corporation, which were controlled by Longyear's wife Mary, their children, and Longyear's sister. However, the various holdings of these companies fluctuated in value through the twentieth century, as mining, timber, and land interest became more or less valuable. In 1951/52 Longyear Corporation and Longyear Estate, Inc. were folded into Longyear Realty Corporation, and in turn in 1964 a new limited partnership called J. M. Longyear Heirs was formed to manage Longyear Realty and other holdings. Throughout this time the Longyear companies continued to use this building. [2]

In 2001, JML Heirs, LLC, a company founded by John Munroe Longyear, [3] undertook an extensive renovation of the building. [4] The company has its corporate offices in the building. [4]

Description

The Longyear Building is a two-story rectangular Tudor Revival brick office building with a flat roof. The building lot is sloped, so that the ground floor is below grade at one end and fully exposed, with a street level entrance and storefront windows, at the other end. A small 2001 addition at one end houses an elevator. The building sits on a conscrete foundation, and the basement level is clad in stucco. The remainder of the exterior walls are brownish brick backed by hollow clay tile. The two main facades have extensive Indiana Limestone trim for the water table, belt courses, window trim with quoins, decorative cartouches, and Tudor arch main entrance. A decorative copper cornice is located above the storefront windows and doorway on one end. [2]

The main facade contains the entryway to the Longyear offices on the first floor level. The entry is recessed, and accessed through a limestone Tudor arch with a rectangular hoodmold. Surrounding windows on the first floor are asymmetrically arranged and grouped in pairs and threes. The second floor is separated into three shallow bays. There are single windows in each of the end bays and a triple window in the center. A parapet wall encircles the top of the building. [2]

On the interior, there is a vestibule with original terrazzo floor, with double door leading to a short hall with the main staircase and the entrance to the Longyear offices. The lower floor houses rental space accessed by the Bluff Street entrance and storage, mechanical equipment room, break room, and restrooms for the Longyear Company. The first floor contains the Longyear Company offices, which are arranged along a central corridor. The space includes primarily offices, and also a reception area, work room, conference room, and vault. The doors, sidelights, transoms, door trim, and window trim along the central corridor are almost all original to the construction of the building. The second floor of the building, which is now leased as office space, is similar in plan to the first floor. The second floor was originally constructed as apartments, but were converted to offices space in the late 1960s, apparently without a major change to the floor plan. A small flight of stairs leads from the second floor up to the attic, which is used for storage. [2]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jane C. Busch (March 27, 2004), NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM: Longyear Building
  3. ↑ "JML Heirs" . Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Corporate Offices" . Retrieved December 15, 2009.
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