ABOUT GRAND RAPIDS BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN STREETSCAPE…

Contact pamvanderploeg@gmail.com for more information on how to get a copy of these studies.

GRAND RAPIDS DOWNTOWN BUILDINGS—a 124 paperbound inventory of 180 central city buildings arranged in 14 short contiguous walks covering downtown north and south of Fulton Street. Full color building images. Purchase at the Grand Rapids Public Museum and the Periwindle Fog shop downtown.

Rediscover the eclectic architectural landscape of the city’s vibrant downtown in a brief history of the central city’s buildings circa 1850 to the present. These include Grand Rapids early bank skyscrapers, furniture exhibition spaces, glass-fronted automobile showrooms, deluxe hotels, civic buildings, cultural icons, the buildings of the urban renewal era and more. Architects and builders are documented.

Reader Comments and Reviews— “Grand Rapids is a living museum of historical and modern architectural beauty. A new book, ‘Grand Rapids Downtown Buildings,’ details the city’s eclectic landscape through the eyes of its author, Grand Rapids native Pamela VanderPloeg…When you finish leafing through the book, I’m sure you’ll be looking to book a weekend visit to Grand Rapids…”—Bill Castanier (Link here to read the review: City Pulse, Lansing State Journal)

From New Michigan Books in Chronicle published by the Michigan Historical Society, Spring 2024—“History abounds in the architecture of Grand Rapids,Michigan, yet it is easy to forget that the historical buililngs that compose the downtown area come with stories of their own. In this guide, Pamela VanderPloeg leads readers on a tour of downtown Grand Rapids, pausing at more than 180 structures to explain a bit about their histories. From the 1836 law office of Charles P. Calkins to the 1915 Grand Rpaids Bank Building — today known as the McKay Tower—this work chronicles a historic era in the city’s development.”

“Your skill in researching and assembling this content into such a book is important history for Grand Rapids and those who enjoy this city, as it helps them understand why. Thank you.  It is an amazing undertaking and beautifully done”—Robert Daverman AIA Daverman Architecture. (Full-color, 8.5 x 11 paperbound from Building Story Press 2023—$40. includes tax) .

About Grand Rapids historic Ottawa Hills neighborhood…

Ottawa Hills:Early Owners, Architects & Builders 2023

—a 106 page full color study documenting the architects, builders and early owners of nearly 300 homes in the one-hundred-year-old Grand Rapids neighborhood. This collection of period-style homes, set on wide curving streets that follow the former cart paths of a 1905 golf links, were designed by the city’s most popular architects and builders. Despite their historic styles, they were equipped with the most modern conveniences of the day. The majority of homes were completed between 1922 and 1935. This is the story of the homes and the owners who who represented the city’s elites, trend-setters, middle class families, and even new immigrants. Within two weeks, they snapped up the lots in the first plat of the early automobile suburb and the second plat as well, which had a brand new Renaissance-style Grand Rapids public high school. This book features the early owners, architects and builders (when known) of each of the homes in this historic neighborhood. Building Story Press 2023.

Reader Comments and Reviews — “This is a book you want to own and read if you have lived in the Ottawa Hills neighborhood, the first suburban expansion of the city in 1922. Great history of our city and community with wonderful stories of people who lived here. After being associated with the community for 70 years, I am surprised with the stories included in the book. Thank you, Pam for your research and writing our history”.” Fred Davison.