Percy Dwight Bentley was born in La Crosse, Wis., in 1885. He studied at Ohio Wesleyan University as a member of the non-graduating class of 1907. In September of 1906, Bentley entered Chicago’s Armour Institute and again in September of 1909.
Between 1907 and 1910, Bentley worked in La Crosse for Wells Bennett as a draftsman when not in school. In 1910, he formed a brief partnership with William Bajari, hiring Otto Merman as a draftsman. Both Merman and Bentley left La Crosse around 1913 or 1914 and headed for the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, area where Bentley became associated with Charles Hausler for about a decade. He returned to La Crosse periodically and he and Merman formally announced their partnership in La Crosse at the end of December 1917.(1) Their offices were at 210 Linker Building.
By 1921 Bentley had moved to St. Paul permanently until he later moved to Eugene, OR, about 1939. His architectural work, along with that of other architects, was honored by the Roswell, NM, Chamber of Commerce and Museum. The Chamber honored “a group of progressive American architects who lived and designed in the period 1900-1920.”(2) Bentley died in Eugene in Feb. 1968.(3) His obituary said he was a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright and noted some residential structures of his design, such as 1634 King St., 1212 and 1222 Cass St., and 2425 Main St. Certainly Bentley’s legacy is his influence of the Prairie Style on residential architecture in the early twentieth century in La Crosse.(4)
Otto A. Merman was also born in La Crosse, Wis., in April 1890. He received his early training in the offices of architects Parkinson & Dockendorff from about 1907 to 1910. He moved to Minneapolis for a short time and returned to La Crosse to form a partnership with Percy Bentley. When Bentley moved permanently to St. Paul in about 1919, Merman assumed the practice. Merman began to specialize in public buildings, particularly schools.
In 1922 Merman associated with Herbert W. Skogstad until Skogstad’s death in 1929 at 39 years of age.(5) Merman continued to design many public buildings as well as some commercial and residential buildings. Otto Merman died at age 45 in June 1935.(6)
Resources consulted:
1 “Bentley & Merman New Designers Here: Percy Bentley in Partnership with Local Man,” La Crosse Tribune, Dec. 27, 1917, p.2. 2 “Bentley Work Recognized: Former City Architect Feted by Roswell, N.M.,” La Crosse Tribune, Jan. 23, 1957. 3 “Architect P. D. Bentley Dies at 83,” La Crosse Tribune, Feb. 8, 1968. 4 Rausch, Joan H. and Richard Zeitlin, Historic La Crosse: Architecural and Historic Record: A Summary of an Intensive Survey Report, (Architectural Researches, Inc. and Historical Resources, Inc.: 1984), p. 14. 5 “Funeral Services of H. W. Skogstad to be on Monday,” La Crosse Tribune, Sept. 15, 1929, p. 6. 6 “Otto Merman, Prominent as Architect, Dies,” La Crosse Tribune, June 3, 1935, p. 1.
