I've never seen a picture of that building in the 100 south block, it would certainly be a nice one to still have around. If that facade does still exist under there it would be very nice to see it restored but I also doubt it's still under there since I think the facade that's on there now is a modernization of a previous modernization. On the plus sides if there's nothing worth saving then that building is one of the few sites on Washington Square that could host a large development.
I got intersted so I went up and looked up the length and width of the old Kresge's site. At 108 x 134 it's not much different than the Boji Towers 132 x 136 site, and the tower only takes up about a quarter of that site. Conceivably, you could in fact have a fairly significant building, here, without blocking too much of the views of the lower floors of the Boji Tower annex if you push the building to the north half of the site.
Kind of getting ahead of ourselves, though. I'm not even sure Go Workout's renovation is done on this one, and apparently they are going to use the roof of the building. Realistically, I wouldn't mind things right on Washington staying low/mid-rise since there are so many other appropriate areas for towers, though. I liked the human-scaled part of the square and how the towers are close enough to "close" it end to the east and west, more of a valley than a canyon.
I'm actually kind of curious, while we're on this block, what the two buildings directly to the north (104 South Washington) looked like back in the day? The assessor's site is saying one was built way back in 1864 and the other in 1934, though you'd never be able to tell, anymore. That's got to be one of the oldest extant commercial buildings in the city, the 1864 one. How old was the Capital Club? 1865?
In the 60's this was the site of the Jupiter Department Store, which we called Jupiter's. It was a five and dime kind of store. There was a lot of that type of store downtown. In this photo, you can see the first idea they had for malling S. Washinton Ave... They took out the parking meters and put up attended payment booths at one end of each block. It was not popular, as you can see this store had just closed.
The Publice Service Department has another historic photo from a bit over a week ago, but it's a comparison. The old photo (circa 1925) is taken a bit further up the street, but it's roughly comparable.
I found a book in the library about the history of Lansing, titled "Lansing, Capital, Campus, and Cars". I found the story it presents, of our history very interesting and well written. I found it especially interesting that there was nothing really here but wilderness when it was decided that Lansing would be the site of the Capital City and how deep and dangerous that wilderness was. Places like DeWitt and Owosso and Ionia where functioning small towns well before there was a Lansing. It is also cool to read about the families that first settled here, their names now on our street signs. This book was published in the 1980's so there is some perspective on how far we have come since then as well.
@sabatoa I had always thought that it would have been good to have those tracks be below grade, I never knew there was ever any official recognition of the idea. It would be massively expensive but it's still something that would be really nice to see, I don't think trains are going anywhere anytime soon.
I've seen it before, but I love that layout, esp. with the long chain of parks along the riverfronts! They sure were brave about planning to build in flood zones back then though!
I'd seen this picture many times before, but I'd never seen it this clear or this large. This is looking west down Grand River (then Franklin) in Old Town (then Lower Town) over the Grand River in 1850. Photo courtesy of CADL:
In the background, the Michigan Female College and the Institute for Oddfellows is under construction. The campus would become home to the Michigan School for the Blind in 1880.
Does anyone know for sure whether the current "Abigail" Administration Building on site was a newly construction building, or if it was just a reconstruction of the old administration building? I've never quite been able to nail this down. City records have the Abigail as being completed in 1859, which points toward reconstruction, but that would have been one helluva reconstruction to change it that much.
Comments
I've never seen a picture of that building in the 100 south block, it would certainly be a nice one to still have around. If that facade does still exist under there it would be very nice to see it restored but I also doubt it's still under there since I think the facade that's on there now is a modernization of a previous modernization. On the plus sides if there's nothing worth saving then that building is one of the few sites on Washington Square that could host a large development.
I got intersted so I went up and looked up the length and width of the old Kresge's site. At 108 x 134 it's not much different than the Boji Towers 132 x 136 site, and the tower only takes up about a quarter of that site. Conceivably, you could in fact have a fairly significant building, here, without blocking too much of the views of the lower floors of the Boji Tower annex if you push the building to the north half of the site.
Kind of getting ahead of ourselves, though. I'm not even sure Go Workout's renovation is done on this one, and apparently they are going to use the roof of the building. Realistically, I wouldn't mind things right on Washington staying low/mid-rise since there are so many other appropriate areas for towers, though. I liked the human-scaled part of the square and how the towers are close enough to "close" it end to the east and west, more of a valley than a canyon.
I'm actually kind of curious, while we're on this block, what the two buildings directly to the north (104 South Washington) looked like back in the day? The assessor's site is saying one was built way back in 1864 and the other in 1934, though you'd never be able to tell, anymore. That's got to be one of the oldest extant commercial buildings in the city, the 1864 one. How old was the Capital Club? 1865?
In the 60's this was the site of the Jupiter Department Store, which we called Jupiter's. It was a five and dime kind of store. There was a lot of that type of store downtown. In this photo, you can see the first idea they had for malling S. Washinton Ave... They took out the parking meters and put up attended payment booths at one end of each block. It was not popular, as you can see this store had just closed.
The Publice Service Department has another historic photo from a bit over a week ago, but it's a comparison. The old photo (circa 1925) is taken a bit further up the street, but it's roughly comparable.
Those awful tracks. The Lansing Plan recommended that the city change it so that those tracks weren't at grade- but obviously that never was taken up.
I found a book in the library about the history of Lansing, titled "Lansing, Capital, Campus, and Cars". I found the story it presents, of our history very interesting and well written. I found it especially interesting that there was nothing really here but wilderness when it was decided that Lansing would be the site of the Capital City and how deep and dangerous that wilderness was. Places like DeWitt and Owosso and Ionia where functioning small towns well before there was a Lansing. It is also cool to read about the families that first settled here, their names now on our street signs. This book was published in the 1980's so there is some perspective on how far we have come since then as well.
@sabatoa I had always thought that it would have been good to have those tracks be below grade, I never knew there was ever any official recognition of the idea. It would be massively expensive but it's still something that would be really nice to see, I don't think trains are going anywhere anytime soon.
Hood, I'd posted about it way back in February of 2014 (and then again in October of last year).
The plan called for elevating the tracks along the east side of downtown and well as a few other places (elevated trackage is in yellow).
I've seen it before, but I love that layout, esp. with the long chain of parks along the riverfronts! They sure were brave about planning to build in flood zones back then though!
I'd seen this picture many times before, but I'd never seen it this clear or this large. This is looking west down Grand River (then Franklin) in Old Town (then Lower Town) over the Grand River in 1850. Photo courtesy of CADL:
In the background, the Michigan Female College and the Institute for Oddfellows is under construction. The campus would become home to the Michigan School for the Blind in 1880.
Does anyone know for sure whether the current "Abigail" Administration Building on site was a newly construction building, or if it was just a reconstruction of the old administration building? I've never quite been able to nail this down. City records have the Abigail as being completed in 1859, which points toward reconstruction, but that would have been one helluva reconstruction to change it that much.