diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.cc b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.cc
index d6092139f6f4bc92f220be53193db3225e9f4d6b..72cb7d78767978cd59710f1c27f051c3bb9c727a 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.cc
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.cc
@@ -164,10 +164,11 @@ calc_face_normal(const Point& _p0,
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 template <class Kernel>
-void
+typename PolyMeshT<Kernel>::Point
 PolyMeshT<Kernel>::
-calc_face_centroid(FaceHandle _fh, Point& _pt) const
+calc_face_centroid(FaceHandle _fh) const
 {
+  Point _pt;
   _pt.vectorize(0);
   Scalar valence = 0.0;
   for (ConstFaceVertexIter cfv_it = this->cfv_iter(_fh); cfv_it.is_valid(); ++cfv_it, valence += 1.0)
@@ -175,6 +176,7 @@ calc_face_centroid(FaceHandle _fh, Point& _pt) const
     _pt += this->point(*cfv_it);
   }
   _pt /= valence;
+  return _pt;
 }
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.hh b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.hh
index 0f6d1f02db41f28f42703007fa51b9c4ea19a063..d053d91d96b4eb75c42f875d40748eae029ce490 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.hh
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Core/Mesh/PolyMeshT.hh
@@ -232,7 +232,12 @@ public:
   Normal calc_face_normal(const Point& _p0, const Point& _p1,
                                             const Point& _p2) const;
   /// calculates the average of the vertices defining _fh
-  void calc_face_centroid(FaceHandle _fh, Point& _pt) const;
+  void calc_face_centroid(FaceHandle _fh, Point& _pt) const {
+      _pt = calc_face_centroid(_fh);
+  }
+
+  /// Computes and returns the average of the vertices defining _gh
+  Point calc_face_centroid(FaceHandle _fh) const;
 
   /// Update normal for halfedge _heh
   void update_normal(HalfedgeHandle _heh, const double _feature_angle = 0.8)