CRAZE HOME - PENTWATER’S TALLEST OLD BUILDING RESTORED
Craze — Gustafson Building
Craze, a home goods and clothing store "with a heart," is located in Pentwater's only three-story on Hancock. The third floor started as the Masonic Temple. Masons from Oceana and Mason County first convened a new group in 1862 after attorney Charles W. Deane placed an advertisement in the Oceana Times. After the Civil War, they met again in 1866, organizing their first Fourth of July ice cream and strawberries "festive." Most accounts credit Thomas Collister with the 1887 construction. Wide white pine lumber covered with a veneer of creme brick manufactured by the Middlesex Brick & Tile Company made up the exterior, decorated with a large terra cotta keystone representing the Isle of Man symbol. A double store with a large brick vault filled the ground floor. One report claims they reinforced the inner walls on the south end with discarded lumber mill steel saws. A center hall divided the second story into living quarters and a public gathering space. The Masons finished the third floor with a metal roof and red oak woodwork by carpenters Theodore Mero and Peter Labonta. Other details include the original separate staircase, carved wooden newel posts, tall windows, and massive doors with colored glass transoms depicting the Masonic orders. Collister sold the building in 1888 to Charles Mears for $4,000.00. After Carrie Mears died in 1957, the bank liquidated the estate, and in 1960, the Masons moved one building to the north.
HISTORY OF building owners 1887-2023
Building occupants from 1899 to 1949 included the Crescent Drug Store, Charles F. Lewis Hardware, A. H. Hardware, Baileys Hardware Southside, the Harbor Inn Restaurant Northside, Pentwater Appliance Store, and Railway Express agent. Summer residents retrieved their steamer trunks there, and commercial fishermen shipped their catch to Chicago. From 1974 until 2006, Dean and Maureen Gustafson ran a gift store known statewide for its vast selection of imported goods, including Persian goods, thanks to the family's Iranian exchange student. Dan & Lin Hoekstra operated Silver Hills Antiques until 2017. In 2019, Pentwater entrepreneurs Dan and Laura Nugent restored the building with a stylish industrial aesthetic. They refinished the original ash floors, painted the cast iron pillars, cleaned the interior, and exposed brick, installed new drywall, refinished the original wainscoting, updated the stairway, and added large pendant lamps and a tile entry. They repurposed the original checkout counter, painting it a bright white. In Laura's words, they "showcased the old bones of this incredible space without sacrificing its integrity." In 2023, they opened the newly renovated second floor to highlight the Craze clothing lines. The third floor awaits its transformation.