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Bismarck Tribune Building

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1921, George H. Shanley. 224 N. 4th St.
  • (Photograph by Steve C. Martens)

After a history of destructive fires (1885, 1898, and 1920) at the Bismarck Tribune newspaper headquarters, editor George Douglas Mann hired a Great Falls, Montana, architect to design this fireproof building with a concrete frame and floors, structural clay tile walls, and Hebron pressed-brick exterior. The popular Prairie Style design emphasizes horizontal proportions and incorporates decorative brickwork with applied terra-cotta ornament with motifs of stylized lamps, flowers, leaves, and lotus buds. Brick header courses accent the pilasters that support rectangular spandrels between the first- and second-floor windows. A distinctive polychrome terra-cotta bas-relief panel above the main entrance reproduces a painting of monks practicing the printer’s craft on a hand press. The Bismarck Tribune Building has served as office space since the newspaper relocated its operations in 1981.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay
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Citation

Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay, "Bismarck Tribune Building", [Bismarck, North Dakota], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/ND-01-BL4.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of North Dakota

Buildings of North Dakota, Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, 193-193.

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