Ramsey Co. Courthouse/St. Paul City Hall

15 Kellogg Boulevard West, St. Paul, MN

"The Steamboat Captain" Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection.	The City of St. Paul prepared for its current home shortly before the stock market crash of 1929. The Depression did not stop the project; instead, it altered the building’s design and construction—it became a site of employment for the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and later the Works Progress Administration (WPA). These federal agency employed the talents of architects, sculptors, painters, and other artists to produce patriotic visions of the future. Clement Haupers, director of the WPA Federal art project in Minnesota,(2) was known to close friends as having a Latin-American partner for many years.(1) Haupers painted a portrait of this man, and hung the painting in his foyer. This painting is currently part of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection. Haupers’ sexual orientation likely influenced the federally-funded artwork of all WPA projects in Minnesota, which includes: the Minneapolis and St. Paul main post offices; “The Pioneers,” a former centerpiece of Minneapolis’ demolished Pioneer Square; the Minneapolis Armory, and scores of other small projects throughout the state.	"The Lumberjack" Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection.

"The surveyor" Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection.	In many cases, the artists deployed unique renditions of a style known today as American Social Realism. The style is a further development of the Art Deco period; it deploys sharp angles, streamlined aesthetics, and geometric shapes and depicts modes of transportation, personifications of the working class, and (racially insensitive) depictions of American history. The style also depicts homosocial scenarios—these present varying degrees of homoeroticism. In the case of St. Paul City Hall, this homoerotic influence is readily evident in murals, sculpture, and even the lobby’s elevator doors. Four painted panels stand out in this regard; they present influential characters in St. Paul history—the steamboat captain, lumberjack, surveyor, and machinist(3)—that predated the Village People’s similar presentation by four decades. Possibly, Haupers used his status to employ his artist friends whom were “in the know.”	"The Machinist" Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection.

---

(1)Johnston, Gerry. Interview with Jean-Nicklaus Tretter, Fall 1999. Mr. Johnston was Hauper’s estate dealer and personally knew him, and reported his sexual orientation to Tretter.

(2)Tretter, Jean-Nickolaus. “Homosocial Coding in WPA Art” Paper submitted to the University of Minnesota, 1999.

(3)Tretter, pages 14-15.

Part of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)