Charles Maass (1871-1959) was the architect who worked the longest in the Copper Country during its boom years, practicing here from about 1895 until after 1920.

Biography

Charles W. Maass was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin.¹ Maass and his wife, Lilian, had two daughters, Frances and Grace. He first established his architectural practice in Menominee, but moved to the Copper Country in about 1895. He soon gained work as a draftsman for Calumet & Hecla, but also seemed to be designing buildings for other clients as well.² The 1897-98 and 1899-1900 Polk directories record him as having an architectural firm in partnership with Theodore F. Lohff in Laurium; Maass lived at the same address as the firm, on Amygdaloid Street.

Maass worked for C&H for nine years, but in about 1904 he formed a firm in partnership with his brother, Fred (1881-1959), about whom little is known. The firm’s offices were located in the State Savings Bank in Laurium. In 1907 Charles Maass announced in the newspaper that he was leaving, probably for Milwaukee.³ Whether he actually left is not known, but by 1910, he had rejoined his brother, moved to Houghton, and opened an office in the Citizens National Bank Building. The Maass Brothers had a number of school designs to their credit, including additions to the Trimountain and South Range schools in 1912⁴ and new schools in Dodgeville, Hurontown, and Otter Lake in 1913.⁵ In 1912 the Maass Brothers were the only firm listed in the Copper Country. In the spring of 1913, Charles announced that he was leaving the Copper Country after eighteen years and moving to Seattle. Fred had recently moved to the Iron Range.⁶

Charles Maass returned soon thereafter, however. He applied for architectural registration in Michigan in 1915.⁷ In the 1916-17 directory, the Maass Brothers were the only architects listed, but they were no longer a partnership; they were listed separately. Both of them were living in Houghton. They were listed as “Maass Brothers” on the drawings for the South Range Grade School in 1918, though.⁸ The 1920 census listed Charles Maass as living in Houghton, but he apparently moved to Detroit soon thereafter, because 1921 drawings for the L’Anse Township School Gymnasium bear his name and an office in Detroit.⁹ Plans for a house for Michael Seeley in Detroit, dated 1949 and signed by Charles W. Maass, registered architect with an office in Detroit, are in the MTU Archives, indicating an exceptionally long career.¹⁰