Ann Arbor Photo of the Day

[Aaron]

I can't say for sure, but it was probably taken down during the Great Cornice Removal Movement of the fifties. And I'm pretty sure that wasn't a Key Bank location until fairly recently (last twenty years or so.)

[RustTown]

Yeah, because of neglect, during the "modernization" movement in the 50's and 60's cornices were removed because many had become dangerou (i.e. chunks falling of of buildings).

I know Lansing's first "high-rise" building, the Hollister Building/Block" just recently had a large chunk of it's original cornice fall off (which believe it or not survived the other modern renovations done to the building). It never made the news, so I assume it fell when no one was near it, but the chunk was big enough to have taken out somebody.

[LA Dave]

The Law Quad, facing the Law Library.

Boy that great shot brings back a lot of memories. I spent three years in that place. Each issue of the Law School magazine has a cover featuring aspects of the Law Quad. In receiving many issues of the magazine, I have never seen a repeated image.

[wolverine]

With all the other stuff going up in the city, I think many of us have forgotten about the Lower Ann Arbor redevelopment project. The project you see in the rendering will be built on what is currently a recently abandoned strip mall.

I had a ton of elevations and plans of this project, but I forgot where I saved them. When I find them I'll post.

[Jin Kim]

With all the other stuff going up in the city, I think many of us have forgotten about the Lower Ann Arbor redevelopment project. The project you see in the rendering will be built on what is currently a recently abandoned strip mall.

Where about is this and what will it become? The thought of taking a strip mall and turning it into what looks like it could be a mixed use development got me a bit excited.

[wolverine]

This will be located just off the Broadway street bridge, not far from the U of M medical center. The area was once formerly a mill district. There existed a small but thriving retail area. When the mills and industry left, the retail area declined and eventually changed over to a suburbanized area. New apartment blocks went up, and of course, so did the medical campus. A few of the old factory buildings exist and have since been converted. The Broadway Street bridge was rebuilt into something that seems more of a monument, and a new park was recently finished. It's unbelievable how much money the city has poured into redeveloping this area. It will really be a nice place to shop and live when it's done.

There are a bunch of architects working on this project. The head developer is Strathmore of East Lansing. I'm not sure what exactly is happening with this project right now. Nothing that would prevent it from getting built though.

[Jin Kim]

Wait.. is this where the Kroger's used be on Plymouth road?

[wolverine]

Uhm, no not that Kroger's on Plymouth road. I'm talking right off the Broadway bridge...unless Krogers used to exist in this mall and moved further up the road to their current location.

I'll post pictures when I get the chance of the site.

[Jin Kim]

Oh right, you might not be aware that there used to be a Kroger's in a strip mall where Broadway, Plymouth and Pontiac Trail meet.

I'm not talking about the Kroger's further up Plymouth nearer to the North Campus (Plymouth and Huron Park Way).

[wolverine]

The weirdest thing is, I've always recalled a Kroger being right where this is being built, but then I figured I was just thinking of the one off stadium that occupies a very similar building. Guess I wasn't imagining things!

[Aaron]

A few from the Gerald R. Ford Building construction site:

[WALD0123]

That's going to be a beautiful building. Thanks for pics.

[RustTown]

Cool! It looks like it's being built using the applied masonry system, and not the cheap-looking curtain wall system.

[wolverine]

Yep, it's got ties protruding from the cinder blocks indicating it's laid brick by brick. This is one building I'm really exicted about going up on campus. This is what you get when a fair amount of money is put forth into construction...... one hell of a good looking building.

[RustTown]

Maybe I missed posts on this, but what exactly will be the usage of the building?

[wolverine]

Maybe I missed posts on this, but what exactly will be the usage of the building?

It's U of M's School of Public Policy building. It is being built on the South-Central section of campus on what was once a parking lot.

You know, we all really need to get a forum meetup in A2 sometime. It seems like a 45 minute to an hour drive at the farthest for some of us. There's definitely a lot of stuff to photograph.

[RustTown]

I just had to post this. It's a panorama of Ann Arbor I found on Flickr. The photographer is gsgeorge (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsgeorge/)

The black-and-white by night makes it look huge.

[wolverine]

Damn, this is too funny, I recognized the name gsgeorge. He was also in my urban planning class. It's a wonder how all U of M's students like to use their university ID names on everything. Then again I'm guilty of that on flickr as well.

My best guess is that was taken the day we beat MSU in double overtime. Also a very cold, cold, cold night. I actually had my camera that night, and thought about taking a nightime picture of the city. But I was freezing my ass off and felt like leaving right after the game.

[wolverine]

Life Sciences Institute, located on the fringe of Ann Arbor's Hill District.

It's finally done! I'm so sick of having 5 construction sites around my building!

[RustTown]

Are those UofM-related buildings, or private companies? This postmodern industrial style of architecture seems to be very common here in Michigan.

[Aaron]

Are those UofM-related buildings, or private companies? This postmodern industrial style of architecture seems to be very common here in Michigan.

They're university buildings.

[wolverine]

The Ashely Mews Company and an Ann Arbor traffic jam.

[RustTown]

That's one of my favorite buildings in Ann Arbor. It's built using quality materials, namely the high-quality copper on the upper levels.

Edited January 11, 2006 by Lmichigan

[GRCentro]

That's one of my favorite buildings in Ann Arbor. It's built using quality projects, namely the high-quality copper on the upper levels.

Ok, I was wondering what that crown was made out of. Nice photo, wolverine.

[Zissou]

I would love to see a wider version of that building transplanted onto the Madison-Lenox site.