The 'Guy' behind the buildings: Museum program on Tilden legacy

Tim Botos, The Repository
·3 min read

CANTON ‒ Amongst local architects, Guy Tilden was the man.

His work in Stark County, much of it more than a century ago, led to some of the area's most iconic structures. Tilden's best piece may have been the Case Mansion, which was razed in the early 1990s — but a dozen of his structures stand to this day.

"There were about 70 projects he did," said Richard Haldi, a local history scholar and author who will co-host a free admission program on Tilden's legacy at 1 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium at the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.

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All that, despite the fact Tilden had no formal training or schooling in such design work.

Haldi will be joined by 77-year-old Canton native Doug Tilden, Guy Tilden's great grandson. Doug Tilden, who lives in Walterboro, South Carolina, is a retired architect whose career included seven years as the chief architect on New York City's Grand Central Terminal expansion.

He was born long after Guy Tilden's death in 1929. But Doug Tildenlearned about his great-grandfather from his grandfather, Elmer, and from examining Guy Tilden's buildings.

He appreciates them now more than ever.

"I grew up a modernist," Doug Tilden said of his professional leanings, when it comes to design. "But it didn't take me too long to appreciate what our forefathers have done."

The Repository chronicled the life and works of Guy Tilden and two other local architects — Charles E. Firestone and Herman V. Albrecht — as part of a 2017 series titled "Stark Heritage."

At that time, Doug Tilden recounted how he'd recently become a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. That member honor, the organization's most prestigious, had also been bestowed upon his great-grandfather in 1889.

In 2019, Doug Tilden made a trip back to Canton to place a monument on the West Lawn Cemetery gravesite of his great-grandfather. The burial plot of Guy Tilden had been unmarked for 90 years.

The program at the museum this month originally was planned for 2020. However, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Haldi said the event will likely be less than an hour, with a visit to the West Lawn gravesite planned immediately afterward.

Haldi said Guy Tilden was a "mover and shaker" for about 40 years, though the Tilden name has largely faded away. In fact, the only public place you'll actually find his name is on a plaque on the Seventh Street NW bridge, near the museum.

"He was in the right place at the right time," Haldi said, in explaining that Guy Tilden was so prolific, in part, because Canton was in a stage of industrial growth and expansion.

Haldi will discuss Guy Tilden's personal life, which was wrought with tragedy — his daughter drowned in Congress Lake and he died as the Great Depression approached. And he also will focus on some of Guy Tilden's most impressive designs, including the Case house.

The Case Mansion, an 18-room Romanesque home at 1717 Market Ave. N was built in 1902 for Frank E. Case, founder of Harvard Dental Manufacturing Co. Although the structure is gone, a stone wall in front of the property remains visible to this day.

Among Guy Tilden's designs still standing:

  • Spiker-Foster-Shriver Funeral Home, 712 and 718 Tuscarawas St. W, built for Dueber family members.

  • A Queen Anne-style house at 606 McKinley Ave. SW.

  • Canton’s Trinity Lutheran Church, 415 Tuscarawas St. W, built in 1885.

  • Bender’s Restaurant, 137 Court Ave. SW.

  • Portions of the former Harvard Dental Manufacturing Co., 2206 13th St. NE.

  • Lions Lincoln Theatre at 156 Lincoln Way E, Massillon.

  • The former Canton Public Library at 236 Third St. SW.

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 ortim.botos@cantonrep.com.On Twitter: @tbotosREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Guy Tilden program coming to McKinley Presidential Library and Museum