A FRED WILLSON ORIGINAL
114 EAST MAIN STREET MANHATTAN ORIGINAL PLAT, CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT
THE AUTO INN BUILDING
DESIGNED AND CREATED BY FRED WILLSON IN 1915, FOR PARTNERS IRVING DANLEY AND NOEL NASSON, THE AUTO INN OFFERED THE TOWN OF MANHATTAN AN AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR, SUPPLY, BLACKSMITH AND MACHINE SHOP.
A MODEST MAN WHO LEFT A BIG MARK
FRED WILLSON
“Since no two problems are the same, the architect must visit the site, become intimately acquainted with the family or owner who is to occupy the structure,” Willson said in a 1954 address to the MSU Quest for Knowledge group. “He must try to get himself into their way of thinking, living or operating. He must study their personality, mode of living, individual family requirements and provide a structure suitable for their needs.
“Few people realize the care and thought necessary to secure the maximum of useable space and still have an attractive interior and exterior. He must have knowledge of balance, proportion, scale and harmony. There is a fundamental reason for every feature embodied in a structure. It must have refinement, simplicity, beauty and good taste. Thus an architect’s business is to make the things of daily life beautiful.”
FRED F. WILLSON PAPERS
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE SIGNIFICANT LIFE WORKS OF MONTANA’S FAMED ARCHITECT, PLEASE VISIT THE MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY’S ARCHIVE. THIS COLLECTION IS COMPRISED OF ORIGINAL ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING, PHOTOGRAPHS, CORRESPONDANCES, PRINTED MATERILS, DIARIES, AND POSTCARDS.