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Contact: Jennifer Metz
Modernism Committee of the Kent County Council for Historic Preservation
322 Norwood SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506-1717
616.336.8083
gjmetz@attglobal.net
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DEMOLITION
THREAT - SOM BUILDINGS
International Style Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill Buildings
(1969) are threatened with demolition - City Hall and Kent
County Administrative Office buildings - located in downtown
Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Alexander Calder stabile will
lose its original context and a Calder roof painting will
be lost.
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Developers
are attempting to buy and demolish the elegant set of buildings,
designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) in 1969 that house
the city and county offices in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. The
developer, Jack Buchanan of the Gallium Group, LLC, wishes to convince
the City of Grand Rapids to relocate their offices to make way for
the destruction of the SOM buildings and the construction of a new
hotel complex. The Calder designed outdoor sculpture and symbol
of the City of Grand Rapids will become part of a for-profit hotel
complex, thereby losing its original context. The shorter, county
building has a Calder-designed roof painting which will be destroyed
if the building is demolished.
Clad in brown
Canadian granite over steel framing, the buildings closely resemble
Mies Van der Rohe's Federal Plaza in Chicago and the Dominion Center
in Toronto. The three story County building and ten story city hall
are sited on a plaza and juxtaposed against a Calder Stabile (also1969).
A Calder-designed roof painting (Calder on the Roof 1974)
atop the shorter County Building can be viewed from the taller buildings
nearby. The interiors boast terrazzo flooring, spectacular views
of the city, and the elegance of high quality International Style
design.
Ironically,
these buildings replaced the former Grand Rapids City Hall (1888),
which was razed in 1969. Designed by Elijah Meyer, it was demolished
after an extended effort to save it, spawning the local historic
preservation movement. This memory remains strong for those who
witnessed that destruction and many local residents have mixed feelings
about the current city and county buildings. Despite the sad genesis
of the buildings, the SOM buildings coupled with the massive orange-red
Calder are truly represent the heart of the city. The Calder has
become the symbol the city today and appears on all city literature,
vehicles, and signage. Often criticized as a "wind-swept void,"
the Miesian-inspired Calder plaza is used as public space for various
festivals in the spring, summer, and fall.
This threat
comes at time when nationally many are fighting the destruction
of Mid-Century Modern architecture. The SOM-designed Connecticut
General Insurance Company buildings in Connecticut, SOM-designed
buildings in Kansas City, Missouri are threatened with demolition
and in Los Angeles an important Richard Neutra house was recently
destroyed over a weekend. Preservation of the recent past is of
national concern.
Please help
us publicize this poorly conceived plan and help to gain attention
for what could be the loss of irreplaceable modern architecture.
The hotel may be needed, but there are numerous vacant lots in Grand
Rapids that could hold this new hotel development and benefit the
city by adding to its urban fabric rather than destroying its heart
once again.
Status Updated
December 2002: A one-year option on the buildings was granted
by the City of Grand Rapids to the developers on October 29, 2002.
Please help the fight to stop any deal to be made to allow the destruction
of these International Style Buildings, Calder roof-painting, plaza,
and original context and site for La Grande Vitesse Calder Stabile.
Status July
2002: The city staff is working with the developer to define
terms of a proposal for consideration, which should come before
the Grand Rapids City Commission for consideration in late August
2002.
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