Wilfred E. Mansur

Wilfred E. Mansur (1855–1921) was the most prominent architect in late 19th and early 20th Century Bangor, Maine. He designed many private and municipal buildings, including the Penobscot County Courthouse and at least seven schools. His masterpieces are probably the Nichols Block and Columbia Building (both 1892), in which he used a Romanesque Revival style with exuberant patterned brickwork, and the Graham Building of 1911, among the most prominent landmarks in downtown Bangor. Mansur's largest number of commissions came following the Great Fire of 1911, which destroyed half of the city's commercial district (and a number of his own buildings). At least eleven Mansur-designed buildings are preserved on the National Register of Historic Places, many in Bangor's Great Fire of 1911 Historic District.

Nichols Block (1892) Bangor, Maine

Graham Building (1911), Bangor, Maine

Mansur's brother George I. Mansur was also an architect.

Mansur was a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, and the Maine Society of Architects. He was also a prominent Mason.

List of Mansur-designed buildings (all in Bangor, Maine):

• Nichols Block, Exchange St. (1892)
• Columbia Building, Corner Hammond St. and Columbia St. (1892)
• Morse & Co. Office Building (1895)
• Unitarian Church Vestry (later Penobscot Theatre Company)
• Bangor Hose House No. 5, State St. (now Fire Museum)
• Bangor Fire Engine House No. 6, Central St.
• Penobscot County Courthouse, Hammond St.
• Wellman Commons, Bangor Theological Seminary
• Superintendent's House, Bangor Water Works
• St. Mary's School, State St.
• Valentine School, Union St.
• Larkin St. School, Larkin St.
• Hannibal Hamlin School, Union St. (demolished)
• Central Building, Central St. (1912)
• Graham Building (Bangor, Me), Corner State and Harlow St. (1912)
• Stetson Block, Exchange St. (1911)
• Stearns Block, Exchange St. (1911)
• Hall Block, Exchange St. (1911)

References

Deborah Thompson, Bangor, Maine, 1769-1914: An Architectural History (Orono: U. of Maine Press, 1988)

Gregory Clancey (Me. Historic Preservation Commission), "Great Fire of 1911 Historic District", National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form, on file at Maine Historic Preservation Commission, 55 Capitol St., Augusta, Maine