Establishing an Historic Landmark 635 S Main

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An interior court , resembling the typical Renaissance palace court yard, is a major interior feature. The upper zone of the space is adorned with the Holloway mural cited above. This two-story space, beginning at the third level , was probably lit at one time by clerestory windows in the mechanical space, or observation deck , at roof level . The balcony that surrounds the space is protected by a wrought- iron railing topped with globed lights on ornate, wrought- iron posts at one end and a four-sided clock of matching materials at the other . The artist responsible for the Administration Building mural , Charles S . Holloway ( 1859-1941 ) , was a Chicago-based artisan who worked in art glass and was an oil painter and cartoonist as well as being a muralist . Holloway painted murals in many theaters in Chicago as well as the Court House in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the old Post Office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the State Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota. His stained-glass windows were installed at Northwestern University and the Keeley Institute in Dwight, Illinois . He was a member of the National Society of Mural Painters and received a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition. [ 10] This mural remains significant as one of South Bend ' s few remaining works of "public art . " Its depiction of Studebaker ' s place in transportation history is evidence of a company that viewed itself as being profoundly influential beyond the bounds of local commerce. It is quite evident that by 1907 the Studebaker firm saw itself as having already made a major contribution globally . Both the mural and the building itself were intended to reflect stability and confidence and to command respect . The Architect: Solon Spencer Beman Solon Beman ( 1853-1914) ranks as one of the nineteenth-century Midwest ' s premier architects . He is most famous for being the designer of Pullman, Illinois--the planned manufacturing community built for business tycoon George Mortimer Pullman, manufacturer of the famous Pullman railroad car . Beman, along with landscape designer Nathan F . Barrett, was hired in 1880 to design this new town south of Chicago on the west bank of Lake Calumet that would contain Pullman ' s new manufacturing facilities as well as housing for his workers . Historian Richard C. Wade has described Pullman as both "an attempt to establish a new system of labor relations [and] an experiment in town planning . " Beman ' s plan for the city was everything that typical nineteenth-century industrial towns were not-- it was "planned, orderly, antiseptic" and thus could be seen as a possible "agent of fundamental social reform. " [ 11 ] 7