White Bear Town Hall designed by
Architect Cass Gilbert

By Catherine Carey
Reprinted from Town Life Magazine©

A few months ago, Architectural Historian Paul Clifford Larson wandered into White Bear Lake Area Historical Society's offices and started browsing through old records.

Larson was in the process of researching Cass Gilbert, the famous architect who designed the State Capitol, and had recently come across a Nov. 1885 trades magazine, Inland Architect and Building, stating Gilbert had been appointed to design the White Bear Town Hall. The architect was 26-years-old at the time and paid $1,000.

Construction of the building was performed by Paul Haupt. Gilbert was later commissioned to design 17 additional structures in White Bear Lake. Many of his designs were lakeshore homes for well-to-do families.

"It's too bad the old Town Hall is gone," said Larson to Historical Society Director Sara Hanson, "I sure would have liked to have seen it."

"The Town Hall is still here," said Hanson, "It's just a couple of miles south."

Excited by his discovery, Larson toured the Town Hall a short time later. He became further convinced it was a Cass Gilbert design.

"Gilbert was fanatical about the detail of his buildings. He'd come out to the construction site and make the workmen do it all over again if it wasn't right," said Larson. "He thought of himself as an artist controlling other people's hands. He was deeply aware of the importance of teamwork, but regarded himself as an artist."

The Town Hall's simple structure, Larson said, exhibits many of the hallmarks of a Cass Gilbert design.

The arghictect's masterful drawings and eye for detail were his greatest strengths.

The Town Hall's dimensions, 26 x 40 ft., exactly match the descriptions in Inland Architect and Building as well as the 1891 Rascher Insurance Atlas, of St. Paul & Vicinity.

"The building was carefully crafted, you can see it in the sway of the corniche, a decorative feature which requires skill and execution," he said. "if it hadn't been done properly it would have sagged. The fact that it is still intact shows that the job was well done."

According to an old plat map and Town Board Minutes from 1885, the Town Hall was originally built on a small piece of land at the narrowest point between White Bear and Goose lakes. The Township paid $400 to the Cottage Park Association for the site.

"[The Town Hall] used to be at Lake Ave. and White Bear Ave.," said Sterling Theroux, in a 1996 Pioneer Press article. "But they moved it about 60 years ago, or maybe more. I was just a kid then."

Theroux, now deceased, was the Town's code enforcement officer in addition to being fire chief, community services officer and tree and weed inspector.

A 1940 aerial photograph of White Bear shows that the Town Hall had been moved a few blocks west near the current site of Wells Fargo Bank.

In 1951, the State of Minnesota asked White Bear Township to move the Town Hall to its present-day location at 4151 Hoffman Road.

In the next two years, the Township plans to move the Town Hall a third and final time to its four-acre office campus at 1281 Hammond Road.

In addition to its change in locations, White Bear Town Hall has undergone a number of structural and cosmetic changes over the years.

The original building had a wood shingle exterior; plaster interior; two chimneys; wood-burning stove; and privy vault. It also survived at least one fire.

"The Town Hall probably would have had ornamental shingle work in its gables, but they were torn down and replaced with stucco in the 1920s," said Larson. "I'd also be surprised if there hadn't been a bulls-eye window in the gable as ventilation."

Additional renovations occurred throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

The Town Hall was insulated and
sheet-rocked; false ceilings were removed to restore the ceiling to its original height; a chimney was removed; storm shutters, outhouse
and attached light were removed; a bathroom was added; the railing replaced; handicapped ramp built; wainscoating added; Town Board seating configuration reoriented; dias and privacy wall built; new carpeting installed; and air conditioning, cameras and sound system added.

"Obviously the Town Hall has been altered considerably," said Hanson. "But that doesn't reduce its historical significance. The discovery that Cass Gilbert was the architect shines a spotlight on the Town Hall."

White Bear Town Hall has been the seat of government for White Bear Township since 1885.

The Town Board meets within its walls at 7 p.m., the first and third Monday of each month; Township commissions and nonprofit groups conduct business in the building; and Township residents in Precinct IV vote there on election day.

"I knew Cass Gilbert designed homes in the area, but I wouldn't have guessed that he designed the Town Hall. It's a relatively simple building and he's done such elaborate work. Once I did the research, however, it makes absolute sense," said Hanson. "Gilbert was a young architect in 1885 seeking commissions to start his career. He was also very interested in making inroads into the White Bear Lake community."

"The Town Hall is a treasure. The fact that it isn't a typical Cass Gilbert building is huge," she continued. "I've always appreciated it as an example of the Township's grassroots form of government, but now I value it more than ever. I hope the Township sees this as an opportunity to spotlight its Town Hall. And I hope they're especially careful when it's moved."

Township officials are excited about the discovery.

"It reaffirms the historic significance of the Town Hall and the community given the historic nature of White Bear as a whole and all the things that happened around Bald Eagle and White Bear lakes involving the resort era, railroads and gangsters," said Township Supervisor Dick Sand. "We will be extremely careful when we move the Town Hall its third and last time. We plan to discover as much of the historic design and restore it as closely as possible."

"We'll approach this the same way we approach everything else that's important in the community," said Sand. "We'll set up committees and probably have an open-ended public group that will come together and review the history of the building and its current status."

Town officials and residents, alike, have one more thing to be proud about in their community.

During the Town Board's July 17 meeting, Hanson will present the Township with a report on the Cass Gilbert commission and confirm that the visionary architect designed the Town Hall.

"I'm thrilled and honored to be a part of this," she said. "This is a very important discovery in our community."

(left) Cass Gilbert designed the F.W. Woolworth Company Building, paving the way for skyscrapers in New York City. (middle) Railroad Commissioner Reuben Galusha's home in Cottage Park (later home to Herb Tousley); and (right)) the former German Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in St. Paul. Gilbert also designed homes on Summit Ave. and other upscale Twin Cities neighborhoods in addition to designing several important municipal structures such as the Detroit Public Library and U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

In 1859, Cass Gilbert was born into a prominent family in Zanesville, Ohio, with a proud history of public service. According to "Cass Gilbert,The Early Years," written by Geoffrey Blodgett,
his father set out for St. Paul to invest in land and restore his poor health when Cass was a boy. In 1868, Cass's mother, Elizabeth Wheeler Gilbert, gathered her sons and family possessions and moved to Minnesota to join her husband. He died shortly after their arrival.

Cass was fascinated by architecture from a young age and trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, toured Europe, and apprenticed with New York architectural firm McKim, Mead and White before returning to St. Paul to begin his career. These experiences shaped his artistic vision for the rest of his life.

Gilbert fought hard to make a name for himself and did not attain national recognition as an architect until he designed the State Capitol.

In 1895, his design for the Capitol was selected in a competition with 40 other entrants.

Gilbert's plans incorporated Italian Renaissance architecture, three separate wings representing the different branches of government, huge marble dome, Georgia marble exterior, self-supporting stairways, beautifully-decorated interior and, later, a massive copper "Quadriga"on the Capitol roof at the base of the dome.

The Quadriga's four golden horses were designed by Daniel C. French, the sculptor who created the Lincoln Memorial, and Edward C. Potter, a wellknown animal sculptor.

Gilbert designed the Capitol in addition to supervising its construction and decoration. The structure took nine years to complete and cost $4.5 million.

It opened its doors to the public in 1905.

Special thanks to Sara Hanson and Paul Clifford Larson, whose knowledge and research contributed to this article.

Larson and Jeffrey A. Hess recently coauthored " St. Paul's Architecture: A History," published by University of Minnesota Press.

Larson has written a number of other books pertaining to Minnesota architecture, including the award-winning "Minnesota Architect: The Life & Work of Clarence H. Johnston," published by Afton Historical Society Press; "Municipal Monument: A Centennial History of the Municipal Building"; and "Historic Barns of Adams County."

Larson is currently working on a history of Dellwood.

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