Grand Rapids Then and Now

[GR_Urbanist]

Special series of stories on Mlive recounting Urban Renewal!

 

Still controversial: Why MLive is looking back at urban renewal in Grand Rapids

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/05/urban_renewal_intro.html#incart_river_default

 

http://www.mlive.com/opinion/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/05/julie_hoogland_shining_a_light.html#incart_river_default

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/05/urban_renewal_main.html#incart_river_default

 

(interactive slideshow)

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/05/urban_renewal_slides.html#incart_river_default

 

 

Tons of photos. Lots of stuff many of us likely never seen before. And It looks like there will be even more stories.

 

 

Warning: You may also feel your blood pressure go trough the roof.

 

 

Seriously...WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO TAKE THIS DOWN? I didnt even know this building existed!

Edited May 18, 2014 by GR_Urbanist

[droonus2000]

 

Warning: You may also feel your blood pressure go trough the roof.

 

 

Seriously...WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO TAKE THIS DOWN? I didnt even know this building existed!

I thought the same thing! It's beautiful, I can't believe I never knew it existed. I can't figure out how this was deemed expendable.

[fotoman311]

I thought the same thing! It's beautiful, I can't believe I never knew it existed. I can't figure out how this was deemed expendable.

 

What a great looking building. Perhaps we should also be thankful they weren't allowed to "improve" the whole downtown.

 

I look forward to reading this series.

[walker]

 

 

Seriously...WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO TAKE THIS DOWN? I didnt even know this building existed!

 

It seems like many lifetimes and careers ago and it is all kind of hazy now but back in 1967 or 1968 I was a substitute mail carrier and can remember delivering mail many times to the Houseman Building.  The building even at that time was mostly vacant.  The few tenants were for the most part really oddball businesses as I remember although I cannot remember anymore what they were.    The official urban renewal area was all north of Lyon Street.  The Houseman Building being south of Lyon was not directly a victim of urban renewal, nor were a number of other no longer standing old office buildings south of Lyon.  They were collateral damage.

 

A couple of things were going on the caused the demise of these buildings.  Besides the Houseman Building, there was the Ashton Building, the Murray Building, the Red Cross Building, the Consumers Power Building, the Gas Building, and a few other smaller buildings all south of Lyon but north of what is now Monroe Center.  First, the new buildings coming online in the urban renewal area set up a sort of musical chairs scenario.  The more prestigious tenants left what had been the class A spaces such as the (Michigan) Trust Building and the McKay Tower for the new office buildings.  And of course the businesses whose names were on the new buildings also left their former offices; Old Kent Bank, Union Bank, and the Gas Company.  So then the best tenants of the secondary office buildings such as the Houseman Building moved up a step or two into the vacated old class A building spaces.  Second, a lot of businesses that used to occupy downtown office space such as insurance agencies moved to the suburbs with its free parking.  The Red Cross moved to their suburban style building out on Fuller.  There was just more supply than demand and the weaker players fell out.  Ellis and a few others were right there to help them out.

 

Just an aside, unlike today, back then mail delivery was a big deal and the lifeblood of many businesses.  I don’t even know if the zip code 49502 exists today but that was the downtown business zone.  If your business was in that zip code you got mail delivery three times a day.  In many offices people’s work schedules were dependent on the mail deliveries.  

Edited May 19, 2014 by walker

[RegalTDP]

The Houseman Building was built by (go figure) Julius Houseman in two stages, the southern portion in 1883 and the northern in 1887.  It must have been one of his last endeavors before he died in 1891.

 

MLive had just posted a shot of its demolition a couple months ago:

http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2014/03/houseman_building_demolition_g.html

If you really want a have a coronary, check out the Ellis Parking "Open Soon" sign on the lower right. 

Edited May 19, 2014 by RegalTDP

[mgreven]

The Houseman Building was built by (go figure) Julius Houseman in two stages, the southern portion in 1883 and the northern in 1887.  It must have been one of his last endeavors before he died in 1891.

 

MLive had just posted a shot of its demolition a couple months ago:

http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2014/03/houseman_building_demolition_g.html

If you really want a have a coronary, check out the Ellis Parking "Open Soon" sign on the lower right. 

Thanks for that photo.  My Grandpa worked at VanderSys and eventually bought the place.  Cool to see another location from before my time - even though it's a sad photo.  It moved to Pearl after that and was torn down for the AGP tower (my grandpa loved talking about negotiating with Rich DV) and after that was where Brian's Books is now.

[RegalTDP]

Here's a view of the building from Pearl and Ottawa.  I believe the picture is from Ernest Fisher's Grand Rapids Illustrated from 1888.

 

(from mygrandrapids.info)

 

This was probably one of the grandest and biggest commercial office buildings in town then.  The Waters Building didn't go up until 1899.

[twoshort]

My fav:

 

[Veloise]

This would be a good opportunity to bump the thread from a few years ago. Someone on here was writing a master's thesis (??) and came up with a plan to de-mall 300 N. Monroe (adding ped-friendly storefronts to the bunker wall facing DVP). I would do that if I could track it down...

[RegalTDP]

This would be a good opportunity to bump the thread from a few years ago. Someone on here was writing a master's thesis (??) and came up with a plan to de-mall 300 N. Monroe (adding ped-friendly storefronts to the bunker wall facing DVP). I would do that if I could track it down...

 

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/topic/47691-golscorer4s-thesis-project/

 

It was a good thread.

Edited May 20, 2014 by RegalTDP

[Veloise]

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/topic/47691-golscorer4s-thesis-project/

 

It was a good thread.

Thanks! Shared.

[wingbert]

My fav:

 

 

Now THAT is a crime.  

[Allison Slater]

On this past weekend's Heritage Hill home tour, there was a photo in the OTHER Frank-Lloyd Wright of the house the first tennants of it moved out of.  It was a 3, maybe even 4 storey counting the mansard roof French Revival which once stood where St. Mary's is now.  I've not seen any other photos of it, not anywhere on the internet.

[GRDadof3]

And yet another article and photo set today in MLive. I don't know about anyone else, but I've seen enough urban renewal pictures to last a lifetime.

[gvsusean]

And yet another article and photo set today in MLive. I don't know about anyone else, but I've seen enough urban renewal pictures to last a lifetime.

The photos honestly make me queezy (sp?) What could have been..... 

[GRDadof3]

The photos honestly make me queezy (sp?) What could have been..... 

 

Yes, but it's like our Moms used to tell us "Quit picking at that scab."

[jonathan.jam]

 Makes ya wonder if these architecture styles will even come back...they probably won't in our lifetimes, but the lifetime of a city is much longer.

[GRDadof3]

 Makes ya wonder if these architecture styles will even come back...they probably won't in our lifetimes, but the lifetime of a city is much longer.

 

Most of those styles were adopted from European cities, with all the heavy stone, cornice work, etc. It comes back in bits and pieces in modern architecture but it looks clunky these days. And it's expensive. There's one building in Heartside that needs to have some of its decorative concrete pieces replaced and it's costing the owners hundreds of thousands of dollars (historic preservation comes into play).

[joeDowntown]

I thought this article was really interesting:

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/05/old_richmond_city_hall.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2

 

Grand Rapids City Hall had a "twin" in Richmond, VA. One that (barely) survived. It's beautiful. Ok, I'll stop picking the scab now.

 

Joe

[gvsusean]

would it be impossible to rebuild our old city hall? maybe outside being the same but modern inside?

[jas49503]

Most of those styles were adopted from European cities, with all the heavy stone, cornice work, etc. It comes back in bits and pieces in modern architecture but it looks clunky these days. And it's expensive. There's one building in Heartside that needs to have some of its decorative concrete pieces replaced and it's costing the owners hundreds of thousands of dollars (historic preservation comes into play).

 

I've never understood why it costs so much to obtain historically accurate building materials.  Some things are obvious because there aren't any craftsmen who know how to manufacture an item or the raw materials have been depleted but for example, unfinished brass hardware is very expensive and in theory it should be cheaper. one less step to do in the manufacturing process.  there are many other examples also. but it seems like no mass manufactures have an interest in, what I consider superior, hardware/materials and it is left up to small boutique firms who of course need to charge more because they don't have the economies of scale.

[mpchicago]

Yes, it's painful to see all that was destroyed, but I'm fascinated by the historical background and pics.  It's interesting that both City Hall and the Court House, probably the most significant architectural structures in the area, where replaced with parking lots.  The site of the Court House remains partially parking today.  Unbelievable.

[x99]

About 8-10 years ago there was a company reproducing all of the architectural metal hardware like sash locks, door knobs, hinges, and so forth at very reasonable prices.  I don't think many people knew of them (and I can't remember the name), and for all I know, the stuff could have been imported.  The catalog, though, was massive.  Anything you could have wanted they had.  They disappeared, with Restoration or Rejuvenation Hardware or some similar outfit buying remaining inventory, and marking it up often double or more.  Brand name, you know.   A sash lock that had been $4 became $30.   I suspect one of the major outfits convinced them to go out of business. 

 

So far as larger materials, the skilled European craftsman that came as immigrants and worked for cheap are no more.  I suspect that's some of it of it.  In the residential market, trim budgets simply aren't there.  The old construction books can give you a good idea of the percentages spent on trim, and it was eye popping compared to today.  I suspect that all of the code required items and income tax ate up the enormous amounts of cash that used to go into trimming out a house and making life more beautiful. The two coincide quite closely in time.  I suspect the same is also somewhat true in commercial construction.

 

 

I've never understood why it costs so much to obtain historically accurate building materials.  Some things are obvious because there aren't any craftsmen who know how to manufacture an item or the raw materials have been depleted but for example, unfinished brass hardware is very expensive and in theory it should be cheaper. one less step to do in the manufacturing process.  there are many other examples also. but it seems like no mass manufactures have an interest in, what I consider superior, hardware/materials and it is left up to small boutique firms who of course need to charge more because they don't have the economies of scale.

[Veloise]

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/topic/47691-golscorer4s-thesis-project/

 

It was a good thread.

Summarized in this final MLive installment.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/06/urban_renewal_was_it_worth_it.html#incart_river_default

[RegalTDP]

Summarized in this final MLive installment.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/06/urban_renewal_was_it_worth_it.html#incart_river_default

 

New article, new pictures... From 1970:

 

 

Thank God that isn't downtown anymore.  Looks like the result of a WWII bombing campaign.