11 North 3rd Avenue

When this building was built in 1906, it housed a business college, the public library, the telephone exchange and the post office. By the 1920s, it was used in part by the city hospital. Pinney was the editor of the Door County Democrat, a political and commercial rival to the present Door County Advocate. This large commercial block is only three bays wide at the front but extends back to the full depth of the lot. It is designed in a simplified, local interpretation of the Renaissance Revival style with the half-basement level finished with grey, local limestone set as rock-faced ashlar. Two stories of grey brick top this and are crowned with a corbelled brickwork frieze which is, in turn, capped with a pressed sheet metal cornice. A shallow third story appears to have been added sometime after 1911. This addition does not detract from the architectural integrity of this highly visible corner building. It is an excellent example of a simply detailed, local interpretation of this style.1