The snow is blowing and the temperature is dropping- but we grabbed our mittens and hats and went out looking at Wausau’s architecture in the newly added blanket of white. We wandered downtown and stopped at the Mayer-Lotz Building at 408-412 Third Street (across from the 400 Block).
This staple of downtown Wausau was built in 1930 as an investment for two local businessmen, Charles Mayer and Carl Lotz. Mayer owned the shoe store next door, and Lotz owned Lotz Sand & Gravel. McClellan’s Five and Dime was the large merchant on the ground floor for many years (leaving in 1959). The upper floors housed a variety of businesses through the years.
The building was designed by the Wausau (and Green Bay) architectural firm Oppenhamer & Obel in the Chicago Commercial Style, with many Art Deco touches in the brickwork and along the roof line. The Chicago Commercial Style, as the name implies, was created in Chicago, using metal frames in the construction to allow for more windows in taller buildings. Some hallmarks of this style include numerous, large windows placed in a regular pattern and a height of at least 4 stories.
Art Deco started in France in the 1920s and made its way “over the pond” in the 1930s, becoming popular for interior and exterior design. It became the design associated with being sleek and modern. Art Deco emphasizes clean lines, geometric designs, and stylized organic designs. In fact, 2025 is considered the 100th anniversary of Art Deco since it was introduced to the public as Art Deco at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. On November 28, 2025 Architectural Digest published an article on Art deco turning 100!
We have included city directory listings in the photos below to show the types of businesses that have inhabited the upper floors through the years. We have also included a photo from about 1950 (courtesy of the Marathon County Historical Society).
