For years the architect of the the building at 2 E. Fulton has been mistakenly been believed to be Pierre Lindhout. Some excellent sleuthing by Heather Edwards of the History and Special Collections Dept. of the Grand Rapids Public Library has uncovered the actual architect. Edwards describes her search as follows.

Wilfred P. McLaughlin is noted as the architect in the June 24, 1947 article in the Grand Rapids Herald as being the architect, and is quoted in the article (about the six-story Davenport Building to be built). The Central City Survey states that Lindhout designed 2 E. Fulton, but the source information for the survey sheet points to the above mentioned Herald article and to Peggy Moceri's History of Davenport, which never names architects of any of Davenport's buildings.

A Davenport student publication of 1949, Salesmanship Class, pg. 19, clearly identifies McLaughlin as the architect, “Complete in time for us to finish our last term in air-conditioned comfort, the beautiful new Davenport Institute building was another step forward in the Institute history. Designed by Wilfred P. McLaughlin, local architect, the building is the last work in comfort, convenience, and design.”

Add to this that Lindhout was dead for nearly a decade when the building was completed, and M.E. Davenport hadn't acquired the property until 1947. No doubt the surveyor for the property copied inaccurate information, and the Herald and student articles are correct.  Aside from which, the Art Moderne building would have been very forward-thinking in design and material use for Lindhout,  nine years before his death, and he'd died after a long illness.

Wilfred P. McLaughlin.[1]  Born in 1904, McLaughlin only lived to be 56 years old, and died at Blodgett Hospital in May 1960.[2] Trained in architecture at the University of Michigan, McLaughlin formally joined the firm of Benjamin & Benjamin, a prolific architectural firm, in 1925. He was made partner in 1929, when the firm began operating as Benjamin & McLaughlin. McLaughlin had previously gained experience in the firm of Myrie Smith in South Bend, Indiana, and in the office of Francis J. Plym of Niles, Michigan.[3] Though historic resources documenting McLaughlin’s life and career are scarce, it is assumed that he went into business for himself at some point, as he is named as the sole architect for the Davenport-McLachlan Institute, and not associated with any firm.