Quick Facts

NPS Description

206 South Main Street. City Beauty and Barber Shop, 1939. 

Contributing 

Description

Commercial Brick one-story building with a 22 foot frontage on South Main Street. Above the storefront in the frieze is a decorative panel of buff and dark red basketweave brickwork. The storefront is of buff brick with glass and aluminum display window, diagonal wood paneled transom, buff brick sill, and side doors with transoms. 

The north (side) elevation is also of buff brick. The west (rear) elevation is of painted concrete block with two points of entry and a six-light steel window. No other elevation is visible due to adjoining buildings.

History 

The 200 block on the west side of Main Street developed as a commercial block much later than the blocks to the north and east. It was originally a residential block, with two dwellings present in the late 1800s at the north and south ends of the block. From the late 1890s to the early 1910s, there was a small doctor’s office on this lot. By 1924, it had been removed and this lot remained empty until 1939, when the present building was constructed as the City Beauty and Barber Shop. That business remained until 1975, when it was replaced by an Allstate Insurance office. The Riviera Gold and Silver store was here in the late 1980s, and then it became a professional office space in the 1990s. It is currently the Campus Barber Shop. *as of 2014

Integrity Analysis 

Aside from minor changes to the storefront, this building remains much as it appeared when it was constructed in 1939. The storefront arrangement, with a large central window flanked by two entries, is similar. The original central window was a single large plate glass window with a divided light transom above. This has been replaced with an aluminum window with applied muntin in the center, and diagonal wood infill at the transom. The two entry doors are also replacement aluminum units, but the transoms have been retained; there is a through-window air conditioning unit in the north entry transom. 

Sources 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (Mt. Pleasant: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1910, 1924, 1931, 1950); Mt. Pleasant City Directories, 1925-1998; Past and Present of Isabella County, 1911; City of Mt. Pleasant Building Permits; historic photographs.