The Cartier Mansion
Near Ludington, Michigan
On East Ludington Avenue stands a brick and limestone mansion that is essentially the lumber boom frozen in place. It was built in nineteen oh five by Warren Antoine Cartier, one of the town's great lumber barons. Cartier was born in Manistee in eighteen sixty six, moved to Ludington as a boy, and graduated from the University of Notre Dame before joining his father's timber firm.
He was far more than a lumberman. He organized the local gas company, founded the Ludington State Bank, and was involved in other banks and in a telephone company. The home he built for his wife Kate and their three sons showed off that wealth without apology.
The exterior is Roman pressed brick trimmed with Bedford limestone. Inside, the woodwork mixes mahogany, cherry, walnut, white maple, oak, and hickory, room by room. It had advanced heating and cooling for its day, and chandeliers lit by both gas and electricity, and the upper floor hid a photographic darkroom.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the mansion today welcomes overnight guests as a bed and breakfast.
