News

A significant architectural history

By Scott Wagar

09/09/2014

The Golden Rule building in downtown Bottineau holds 111 years of graceful beauty with a rich history of architectural styles that today can still be seen over a century later in this modern world.

Elias Ertresvaag, an immigrant from Alesund, Norway, had the structure built in 1903 to replace his original one story, wooden merchandise store which he operated his business out of since 1889.

John W. Ross, an architect from Grand Forks, N.D., created the plans for the building while N.J. Warner of Bottineau received the bid as the contractor.

Ross was the first license architect in Grand Forks, and is considered one of the best architects in North Dakota’s history.

He was born in Germany in 1848 and came to America with his parents as a young child. The family settled in LaCrosse, Wis., and as a young adult he studied architecture under Charles Ross who was well known in LaCrosse for his work as an architect.

Ross moved to Grand Forks in the late 1800s and immediately made a name for himself in eastern North Dakota, which eventually spread throughout the state due to his brilliant architectural designs.

Today, Ross has at least nine buildings he designed on the National Register of Historical Places, which include Larimore City Hall, Goose River Bank in Mayville, N.D., St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Warsaw, N.D., Wells County Courthouse in Fessenden, N.D., Grand Forks City Hall, Grand Forks Woolen Mills, Amos and Lillie Plummer House in Hillsboro, N.D., Rudolf Hotel in Valley City, N.D., and the Pisek School in Grand Forks.

According to Steve Martens, associate professor and architectural historian at North Dakota State University, the building is a late nineteenth century Commercial Romanesque Revival style. “The three bay front façade is organized around a center bay of three repetitive Romanesque arches on the upper story, with a distinctive Chicago-style window and stained glass transom on the middle floor,” Martens said.

The outside brick was buff pressed brick, while the stone trim was Portage Entry red stone.

The interior of the building keeps to the Victorian style of the time with tall baseboards, dark woodwork, tin ceilings, wide staircases and wooden floors. The building consisted of yellow pine timing, oak staircases, maple floors, steel beams and cast iron columns.

The foundation and basement of the three story structure consists of rock which was brought to the site from the local area.

In April of 1903, the city gave Ertresvaag permission to move his wooden structure north into the middle of Fifth Street so Werner could start construction on Etressvaag’s new building. The city allowed this so Ertresvaag could still conduct business while his brick structure was being built.

Construction started on May 1,  and the building went up quickly and was completed by December of that year at a cost of $20,000.
The first floor of the structure held Ertresvaag’s merchandise store, while the second floor consisted of a variety of businesses and a public meeting room.

The third floor was the property of Bottineau’s Masonic Lodge, Tuscan Lodge No. 44. Although the entire building held the elegance of the Victorian Age, Bottineau’s Masonic members brought the brilliance of Victorian style to the third floor.

As Masons and their guests came to the top of the stairs of the third floor, they were greeted with a reception room which held opulent rugs, sofas and upholster chairs, along with the paintings on the wall.

Within the Lodge, the tin Victorian ceiling was painted with a white base with blue, lavender, yellow, orange and golden colors throughout the ceiling.

The Lodge also held decorated, wooden trim throughout the room and a number of oak roll doors on the north wall which brought members and their guests into a banquet room, which could seat over 100 people.

The Lodge also had its own heating system on the third floor.
Martens stated the Ertresvaag’s building was designed to show the possibilities the town held; and, with Ertresvaag being a Masonic member in Bottineau, it was just natural a Masonic Lodge would be part of the building through what became a historical tradition for the Order during that time.

“In the early 1900s, every aspiring community needed certain buildings to affirm the town’s viability as a commercial and cultural center. A Masonic Temple or other fraternal lodge often embodied that investment, often incorporating a retail store as tenant,” Martens said.  “A century later these visions often seem outsized, but the three-story commercial building on a prominent corner of Main Street in Bottineau remains both materially sound and architecturally distinguished. The building’s parapet still announces Masonic.”

Little is known about any activities in the building. What is known is that besides Ertresvaag’s merchandise store on the first floor and the Masonic on the third floor, the second floor held a land office, medical offices (a dentist and optometrist), an insurance company and switch board room where all phone calls in the city were directed to the second floor and then directed out by operators to the local homes and businesses and elsewhere outside of the city.

In a 1904 January edition of the Bottineau Courant, an article was written about the dedication service of Tuscan Lodge No. 44. The article stated the dedication started at 8 p.m., with a reception at 9 p.m., entertainment from a number of local entertainers at 10 p.m., banquet at midnight and a dance which started at 8 p.m. and went to 5 a.m. under the direction of the Wilson-Stafford Orchestra.

Ross would continue his work in the state until his death in 1914.
Sadly, Ertresvaag only enjoyed his building for a short time before his death. Ertresvaag passed away from tuberculosis just two months after the building open. As member of the Tuscan Lodge No. 44, his fellow Masons thought so well of Ertresvaag for the building he created, he was the only lodge member in the history of the Bottineau Masons to Lie in State inside the lodge for his public mourning before his funeral.

After Ertresvaag’s death, the building continued to be utilized for commercial use under the family’s ownership, but through the years the building has been sold a number of times.

The Masons in Bottineau eventually sold the third floor of the building and held meeting elsewhere in the community.

Today, the building is owned by Todd and Julie Mears of Rolla, who own and operate the Golden Rule department store. The top two floors of the structure have primarily stayed the same since 1903, but the first floor of the building was renovated by the Mears to grant a modern day style store to provide better comfort for its shoppers and staff.

Ertresvaag left a legend with his building which brings wealth and prestige to the downtown business district. It is a stately structure which keeps the past in the present for individuals to enjoy and keep in their memory’s eye as a special gift from Ertresvaag and Ross.