architecture

Rev. Peter Dougherty House on Old Mission having one heck of a yard sale

Posted on May 25, 2007 by Michigan in Pictures

The Dougherty House, Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society

Memorial Day Weekend is the start of many things in Michigan: summer, countdown till school is out, and the yard/garage sale season. On the Old Mission Peninsula just outside of Traverse City, there will be an amazing one at the house of one of the area’s first white settlers, Rev. Peter Dougherty. Once Upon a Time in Old Mission by Walter Johnson explains:

The earliest picture we have of Old Mission comes from the diaries and letters of Rev. Peter Dougherty, a missionary sent here by the Presbyterian Board of Missions in 1838. The Indians here and at settlements along the Lake Michigan shore were Ottawas. There were gardens on the Peninsula, maple trees scarred from sugaring, indicating centuries of human occupancy, and a village at Old Mission. They lived in permanent dwellings built of cedar poles and bark and also wigwams made of evergreen boughs. None of the dwellings had windows, and all of them allowed smoke to escape through a hole in the roof. Chief Ahgosa’s shanty was a little south of Prescott Lake.

According to the terms of the Treaty of 1836, the government was to provide the Indians with missions and schools and Indian reservations. The site of Mission Harbor was personally selected by Henry Schoolcraft between the present School Road and Swaney Road.

Having spent the winter on Mackinac Island, Mr. Dougherty arrived at Mission Harbor near the present Haserot Beach in May, 1839 in a Mackinaw boat. Arrangements were made for opening a school, and Mr. Dougherty’s house was finished before fall, built with logs cut near the border of the harbor and covered with shingles and boards brought from Mackinac. The house was on the shore directly east of the present larger Dougherty house. The second house was the first frame house built in Grand Traverse County, later owned by the Rushmores and used as an inn. In the fall of 1841 there was a schoolhouse and four dwellings. The schoolhouse was used for religious services until the mission house could be built.

Today and Saturday, The Peter Dougherty Society is holding an estate sale to benefit the restoration of the 1842 Dougherty House (article in the Traverse City Record-Eagle). Plans call for an archeological survey of the property, renovation of the house and to open it to the public with exhibits and tours that will explain its place in the history of not only Grand Traverse, but also as part of the westward expansion of the country in the mid- nineteenth century. While the most historically significant artifacts are being saved for when the house is restored, it sounds as if there are thousands of artifacts spanning over 150 years.

If you’re in the area this weekend, you might want to check this out, and you can also read A Short History of the Dougherty House from the Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society.

The Packard Proving Grounds in Shelby Township

Posted on May 23, 2007 by Michigan in Pictures

Packard Proving Grounds Lodge, photo by Sibylle Basel, Casting Shadow Photography

Sibylle says that photograph is a great art that washes away the dust of every day life. Click the photo above to see more of how she washes the dust away.

The Shelby Township Historical Committee is managing renovations at the Packard Proving Grounds and has some great information and old photos about the site including the text from the front and back of the Michigan Historical Marker:

The Packard Motor Car Company began building a proving ground on this site in 1926. Packard, like its competitors, had previously tested cars on city streets. Architect Albert Kahn designed the principal buildings. By 1929 the complex included the Gate Lodge, warehouses, laboratories, a high-speed test track, and twelve miles of roads simulating the worst conditions of the day. During World War II (1941-1945) Packard built aircraft and marine engines while leasing the grounds to Chrysler for tank testing. Packard ceased production in 1958, and the Ford Motor Company purchased the site in 1961. In 2000 Ford and the Packard Motor Car Foundation began working to preserve the design complex portion of the site.

(back) In 1899 brothers James Ward and William Doud Packard founded the Ohio Automobile Company in Warren, Ohio. In 1902 Detroiter Henry Joy and several other local investors purchased the company, moved it to Detroit and renamed it the Packard Motor Car Company. During the 1920s and 1930s, Packard set the standard for luxury and design. Under the direction of chief engineer Jesse G. Vincent, Packard, known as “America’s Master Motor Builder,” also made advances in aviation technology. Vincent contributed to the development of the Liberty aircraft engine during World War I and predicted the growth of commercial aviation. He considered a proving ground to be essential to high quality.

If you want to get an idea of the full layout, check this aerial photo. Also see Michigan Auto Racing – Packard Proving Grounds, Utica, Michigan at Water Winter Wonderland, Wikipedia’s Packard entry and the National Packard Museum in Warren, OH.

Detroit’s Penobscot Building – leapable in a single bound?

Posted on May 18, 2007March 8, 2015 by farlane

…leap tall buildings in a single bound by tEdGuY49

Narrator: Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound… (more)

The plan was to do something on Detroit’s Penobscot Building next week or so … apparently Ted didn’t get the message. Ah well. It looks like May is Detroit Architecture Month on Michigan in Pictures.

To bring things full circle, here’s the intro to the 50s classic Adventures of Superman. Ted just let me know that the intro to Superman was voiced by Bill Kennedy of Bill Kennedy at the Movies fame (on CKLW and later WKBD). Also see this great Detroit News feature The Stars who turned Detroiters into couch potatoes.

Penobscot Building information now here.

Michigan Capitol, Michigan Governor, Michigan Week

Posted on May 16, 2007May 16, 2007 by Michigan in Pictures

Blair and the Capitol, photo by Apocaplops.

On the statue of Austin Blair “War Governor of Michigan” at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing it says “He gave the best years of his life to Michigan and his fame is inseparably linked with the glorious achievements of her citizen soldiers.” (check it out in the super-biggie-sized view and Michigan Governor Austin Blair on Wikipedia)

It’s hard to ask that anyone give the best years of their life to anything as large as a state, but it might be good to take a few moments sometime during Michigan Week (May 19 – 25, 2007) to consider the massive challenges that people of our state have fought through in the past. From hundreds of thousands of lives given to preserve the Union to hundreds of thousands of hours labored to carve farms from forest, Michiganians have a history of standing tall and staring down and battling through adversity.

While saving our state from today’s troubles is beyond any one of us, there’s little doubt that each one of us has some measure of the solution with our grasp.

David Stott Building, Detroit, in Lego and in fact

Posted on May 14, 2007 by farlane

David Stott Building, Detroit by DecoJim & The Stott by detroitsky

On David Stott Building at MOC Pages, Jim Garrett writes:

This MOC represents the David Stott building, an Art Deco skyscraper that was built in Detroit during 1929 at 1150 Griswold Street. The design of the original building appears to have been influenced by Eliel Saarinen’s 2nd place entry in the 1922 Chicago Tribune building design contest. The David Stott was designed by architects Donaldson and Meier. The building is named after a Detroit businessman who owned a mill and was a boardmember of several other companies. The building remains one of Detroit’s 10 tallest skyscrapers to this day.

Follow that link to MOC Pages for all the details on Jim’s nearly 8′ tall, 54 lb. creation and check out Jim’s Lego Architecture set for more views of this and other skyscrapers.

Wikipedia’s page on the 37-story David Stott is pretty sparse, as is the Stott @ Skyscraper Page. Emporis says the Stott is Detroit’s 13th tallest building. Model D rates the structure #7 on its Top 10 Downtown Buildings of Detroit article and says that the height seems almost exaggerated to be well over 500 feet tall, because of how thin the tower appears and how the setbacks which begin on the buildings 23rd floor, seem to gracefully go on forever.

Here’s a Google map of the location of the David Stott Building (1150 Griswold – at the corner of Griswold & State). Geoff George has a photo of the David Stott mapped as well. You can get more views of the David Stott Building on Flickr.

The Mackinac Bridge: Making Michigan, Michigan

Posted on May 12, 2007June 18, 2007 by farlane

Mackinac Bridge by rdmegr

The photo by rdmegr was taken from high above the Straits of Mackinac, the name for the narrow passage between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. Lake Michigan is on the left and Lake Huron, the right with Mackinaw City (with a “w”) and the Lower Peninsula in the foreground and St. Ignace and the UP in the distance. It’s part of his Daytrip to Mackinac set of photos. Another photo from his flight to Mackinac of a freighter, the North Manitou Shoal Light and South Manitou Island was also blogged to Michigan in Pictures for general coolness and the fact that I heard his plane fly over my house.

I also have a confession to make: For months, I have been scared of the Mackinac Bridge.

This is distinct from the uneasiness that my mild phobia of falling off the Mackinac Bridge gives me when I drive over it.

I have been scared because 2007 is the 50th Anniversary of the Mackinac Bridge. To me, other than the lake-etched outline of our state, there is no greater symbol of Michigan than the Mighty Mac.

5 miles long, 552 feet tall in nearly 300 feet of water, the Mackinac Bridge has seen over 120 million crossings required 3 years, over 11,000 people and 4 million tons of concrete and steel to build. (more facts)

And that’s only the barest glimmer of the story that needs to be told. From its conception in the 1800s, through the difficult construction, all the way up to the people who cross it for business or pleasure every day with hardly a pause, the Bridge is an essential part of what joins Michigan’s two peninsulas as one state.

If you have some links to share, please add them in the comments. We’ll be telling the story of the Mackinac Bridge piece by piece here and on Absolute Michigan, and we’ll post links to all the photos, stories and videos on The Mackinac Bridge page at Absolute Michigan. (look for the button!)

slumpy … the William Livingstone Mansion in Detroit’s Brush Park

Posted on May 9, 2007December 30, 2025 by Michigan in Pictures

slumpy, photo by SOUTHEN

Ryan writes: This is a house in the Brush Park neighborhood in Detroit. A few years ago the home was relocated to the spot it currently sits, but was done so poorly and now sags in the middle. Because of its sag this unique home as been dubbed “Slumpy” by people in Detroit. Its sad and only a matter of time before the home collapses.

Through the magic of FlickrVision, I have been watching Slumpy slump its way toward becoming a pile of rubble for a couple of years. Mac from Detroit BikeBlog (and also Bobby Alcott) pointed out this YouTube video of the front face of the mansion falling off (PG for language). UPDATE! Here’s an even better video (2nd one down). With Slumpy now one step closer to the ultimate end, I thought it would be a good time to dig for a little of the history.

The best I found is at Detroit 1701’s page on the William Livingstone Residence which says:

A prosperous family in Detroit in the 1890s likely wanted to build a home in one of the city’s most elegant neighborhoods. The two most prestigious, arguably, were Brush Park with its numerous mansions or Woodward Avenue where David Whitney and Colonel Hecker had built their castle-like mansion. William Livingstone selected Eliot Street in Brush Park and then employed a very young Albert Kahn who was working for the George Mason-Zachariah Rice firm. When he obtained this commission – presumably with Mason’s help; Kahn was only 22 or 23 years old and had just returned from spending 1891 in Europe studying the classical architecture of the Old World.

Albert Kahn designed in a French Renaissance mode for the home you see, perhaps, reflecting the time he spent sketching the best Gallic architecture. Currently, it takes a great deal of imagination to understand what this once-impressive home looked like in 1893 when Kahn completed it. You can see an interesting array of windows, an appealing tower with its conical roof along with an impressive entryway. This residence was originally built about one block to the west of its present location to the west of John R. The Red Cross intended to demolish this home for their new building. Preservationists succeeded in successfully moving the Livingstone Home about one block to the east.

Wikipedia has a list of buildings designed by Albert Kahn and more information about the architect. They note that as of 2006, Kahn had around 60 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Slumptacular Links

December 19, 2005 – Three Years of Slumpy – leads with a great “back in the day” photo. The more I wander through this blog, the more slumptastic I find it to be.
Flickr map showing location of Brush Park in Detroit – Thanks, SNWEB.org.
Another Flickr map showing the location of the William Livingstone home from A Dubs
A Dubs also has some more photos and a much better video of the collapse at his blog, Faded Detroit.
And All the King’s Men… Detroit Funk photo study
Detroit’s Brush Park: Urban Decay and Rebirth Tons of pics of buildings in the neighborhood (including some restored homes)
Forging Brush Park Great Model D article on redevelopment efforts in Brush Park
What did I miss? Post links to more info and/or your photos in the comments!
And finally, a video of the collapse of Slumpy’s facade that was taken sometime before Ryan’s photo.

Connecting the dots on the Grand Rapids skyline

Posted on April 27, 2007April 27, 2007 by Michigan in Pictures

Grand Rapids skyline, photo by sparky05.

Web technology like tagging and social networks are increasing our ability to relate our photos to real world data and to relate to each other through our photos.

A great example of this can be found in the ways in which photos of Grand Rapids are woven together. Using Flickr, you can assign locations to your photos. Here’s a photo map of downtown Grand Rapids featurign pictures taken by Sparky and others.

Maps aren’t the only way to connect with photographers (and photographs) of Grand Rapids. Check out the Grand Rapids, Michigan Group on Flickr. Two other good spots are the Grand Rapids Photo Blog and the Grand Rapids forum on UrbanPlanet.org.

Building buffs will also want to head over to the Skyscraper Page for buildings of Grand Rapids. It gives details of all the buildings (including those under construction), drawings of the individual buildings and a lineup of Grand Rapids buildings by height.

All of this may seem like overkill, but consider how incredibly useful this might be to a company that was scouting Grand Rapids (or your city) as a potential location.

Danny Lane’s sculpture ‘Borealis’ at the Renaissance Center

Posted on April 19, 2007November 26, 2024 by Michigan in Pictures

Reflective Distortion, photo by rckrawczykjr.

Ralph writes: Detail of a glass wall within the entrance space of the Renaissance Center with a happy little cross process filter applied for good measure.

The wall is part of the Danny Lane sculpture Borealis. As the Kinetic Curtain in Glass Magazine explains, Borealis is one of the largest glass sculptures in the world:

Borealis comprises two enormous walls of undulating glass that measure 47 and 50 feet long, and weigh nearly 50,000 pounds each. A single wall contains about 1,100 43-pound panels of annealed float glass (auto safety glass of course) 4 inches wide, 11⁄2 inches thick and 221⁄2 feet long. The panels stand on end side-by-side and lean at different angles up to 71⁄2 degrees from center to create a wave effect. If laid end-to-end, the panels would extend 9.4 miles.

The article is pretty interesting and details the engineering challenges in building this amazing work of art. You can also see more from Danny Lane at his web site.