The Mather Inn is a hotel in

Ishpeming, Michigan Ishpeming ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,470 at the 2010 census, less than it was in the 1950s and 1960s when the iron ore mines employed more workers. A statue of a ...

. The inn served as housing for the cast of the classic 1959 movie ''

Anatomy of a Murder ''Anatomy of a Murder'' is a 1959 American courtroom drama and crime 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. Vo ...

'', and was the place where

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

composed the movie's score.''Anatomy of a Murder'' Ishpeming Walking Tour
, Peter White Public Library, Marquette.John Monaghan
"The movie that put Ishpeming on the map," ''Detroit Free Press,'' January 20, 2009
"Marquette, Michigan remembers 'Anatomy of a Murder,'" ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Nov. 7, 2008. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places 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 or "great artistic v ...

in 1978.

History

In 1875, Robert Nelson, the founder of Ishpeming, built a hotel in the city known as the Barnum House.About the Mather Inn
retrieved 12/22/09 Four years later, the Barnum House burned, and Nelson replaced it with another structure he called the Nelson House. The Nelson House stood until 1928, when it too burned. The loss of Ishpeming's finest hotel affected the

Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., formerly Cliffs Natural Resources, is a Cleveland, Ohio-based company that specializes in the mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing of iron ore, as well as steelmaking, including stamping and tooling. It is the largest f ...

, which now had no place to house important guests.Mather Inn
from the state of Michigan, retrieved 12/22/09 Realizing the benefit of having a first-class hotel,

William G. Mather William Gwinn Mather (September 22, 1857 – April 5, 1951) was an American industrialist. Mather was born in Ohio and attended Trinity College for his undergraduate and MA degrees. Mather headed the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company for 50 years ...

, Cleveland-Cliffs president, financed the construction of the Mather Inn as a replacement. Mather hired Boston architect James H. Ritchie to design the building and turned to

Warren H. Manning Warren Henry Manning (November 7, 1860–February 5, 1938) was an American landscape designer and promoter of the informal and naturalistic "wild garden" approach to garden design. In his designs, Manning emphasized pre-existing flora through a ...

, a longtime associate, to design the grounds. The hotel is considered to be an excellent example of the work of both men. The Mather Inn opened in 1932, and served the community for decades. In 1959, it served as lodging for the cast of the classic movie ''

''. In the mid-1980s, the Mather Inn Preservation Society was created to sustain it. However, the inn fell on hard times, and in 1987 it was closed and sold. The inn was vacant for many years, but in 2004 renovations to the building were started.Johanna Boyle
"Mather Inn renovation moving along," ''The Mining Journal,'' November 19, 2008 As of 2009, the inn is privately owned and is undergoing a renovation to turn it into luxury residences and office suites.
"Ishpeming stops work on Mather renovation," ''The Mining Journal,'' October 8, 2009 As of 2014, the old boiler room and adjacent storage area have been converted into a brewery named Cognition Brewing Company. The brewery plans to serve its beer out of the old pub.
"Former Mather Inn Hotel taproom will host the new Cognition Brewing Company in Ishpeming," ''The Mining Journal,'' August 17, 2014

Description

The Mather Inn is a four-story rectangular building, constructed of concrete and steel with a brick facing. The front facade is divided into three bays, with a two-story

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

sheltering the entrance in the center bay. The varied fenestration on the front, including bay windows flanking the center entrance and dormers on the hipped roof, make the facade architecturally interesting. The public areas of the interior are panelled in pine, and include a sunken dining room and men's clubroom. 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. The inn is still substantially similar to its original state, having undergone few alterations.

References

External links

The Mather Inn
{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Marquette County, Michigan Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Buildings and structures completed in 1932 Colonial Revival architecture in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places in Marquette County, Michigan