Home is his castle: The 18,000-square foot Barnes residence, shown here in an 1877 elevation plan, was at its time one of the finest homes in Michigan. (Courtesy Archives of Michigan)
The first, Barnes' Castle, was home of the Orlando Mack Barnes family. Barnes, a politician and businessman, built an enormous structure used not only for his family to live in, but to entertain Lansing's elite. Parties, lectures and the everyday home visitations familiar to genteel society from that era were the norm of the mansion in its halcyon days of 1878 to 1893.
The second building, Lansing City Hall, was the work of Edwyn A. Bowd, a prominent architect who designed many buildings in Lansing and on the MSU Campus. The Lansing City Council authorized bonds to build the structure in 1894, the cornerstone was laid in August 1895, and the dedication was in January 1897.
Barnes' house, meanwhile, reflected his wealth and status in the Lansing community. While his family was enjoying a European tour, Barnes is said to have personally supervised the building of the asymmetric mansion on four acres at the corner of Washington Avenue and Main Street. Designed by Lemuel Dwight Grosvenor, Barnes' castle was considered a fine example of Eastlake Victorian architecture in the Midwest. {mosimage}
It was huge — almost 18,000 square feet, three stories (in addition to the basement), a 50-foot tower on the east side of the house, 26 rooms, 11 halls and landings, six stairways and nine fireplaces. The stone and brick house was gas lit, with hot and cold water pipes leading to every floor. There was a burglar alarm at every door and window. The estimated cost of the mansion was $15,000 — the final cost was closer to $40,000, or nearly $700,000 in today's dollars.
The family and its fine home began to unravel with the financial panic of 1893. The Ingham County Bank closed in April, and its directors brought suit against Barnes and his son, Orlando Fleming Barnes, in hopes of recovering an $80,000 bank note. At the time of his death in 1899, the Orlando Mack Barnes estate was insolvent, with claims in excess of $200,000.
While Barnes fought insolvency, the city of Lansing decided to build a city hall at the corner of Ottawa Street and Capitol Avenue. In October 1894, the City Council adopted the plans of Edwyn A. Bowd, at a cost of about $150,000, or $3.1 million in 2006 dollars.
City administrators wanted a large structure that would allow space for Ingham County government, thereby changing the county seat from Mason to Lansing. Bowd designed chambers for the Ingham County Circuit Court, Probate Court and offices for county officials, as well as offices for Lansing's mayor, treasurer, clerk, assessor, police department and jail and a city council chamber. However, the county seat was not moved, and Bowd went on to design a new county courthouse in Mason in 1902. {mosimage}
By 1938, just 44 years after City Hall was first commissioned, the architectural firm of Harland Bartholomew and Associates issued a report recommending a new city hall be built. The report, which was commissioned by the city, criticized the interior of the Bowd building as being “slovenly in appearance,” and commented that Lansing should be prepared to build a new city hall within 20 years.
Bartholomew was right; by 1957, Lansing was building a new city hall at Michigan and Capitol. The modern structure, designed by Lee Black and Kenneth C. Black, was dedicated on Feb. 17, 1959. The old city hall was bulldozed that same year.
The 1938 Bartholomew report also recommended that the Barnes Mansion — vacant since 1922 — become the official residence of the governor. The architect selected the site because of its “dramatic and dignified setting,” and pointed to the protection it would provide against “undesirable neighbors.” However, nothing came of that recommendation.
The suitability of the Barnes mansion as the home of the governor resurfaced during Gov. Kim Sigler's administration (1947-1948). The Michigan Society of Architects conducted a study of the Barnes site and concluded — somewhat controversially —that it would not be a suitable site for the governor's mansion. The mansion was demolished in 1957.
(Mary L. Zimmeth is an archivist at the Archives of Michigan.)
