ABOUT this website…

Pam VanderPloeg documents and shares the architectural history of old, modern, and contemporary city buildings and historic architects and builders. Articles and stories are found on the drop-down menus, and published works, as well as projects-in-process are listed below.

Photos and text are copyright 2025 unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized use of written material or images is prohibited by law.

PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT
Grand Rapids Downtown Buildings $30.

—Newly formatted and updated, copies of Grand Rapids Downtown Buildings can be purchased at the Grand Rapids Public Museum Gift Shop—272 Pearl NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Ottawa Hills: Early Owners, Architects & Builders

—The Ottawa Hills book first came out in the summer of 2023 and the author has a few copies of that imprint available. Just email: pamvanderploeg@gmail.com. An expanded edition is currently being worked on.

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

Grand Rapids Modern Homes and Buildings — Post-WWII architects and builders who put the modern into the metropolitan city.  Long in the making, this book is an image-rich history of these architects and builders’ modern designs constructed during the economic boom and housing shortage of the post-World War II years.

Midtown GR Neighborhood— Stories about the homes and sites in this late 19th- and early 20th-century neighborhood that developed via street car transportation. A neighborhood growing in popularity, its hotspots include the popular Fulton Street Farmer’s Market, Martha’s Vineyard (technically in Heritage Hills), Houseman Field, and the Fulton Street Cemetery, the city’s oldest cemetery. This highly walkable neighborhood was home to many interesting city residents, including Betty Bloomer Ford, who grew up on Fountain Street.

J. Alexander McColl —A catalog of over 120 homes designed by the talented and popular architect who became one of the city’s most prolific residential designers of upscale period-style homes, beginning in the early 1920s. McColl worked right up until his death, in the 1960s. He left behind an impressive body of work that includes everything from English cottages, Colonial, and Mediterranean, to International style and Mid-century ranch homes.

CONTENT CREATOR AND SITE ADMINISTRATOR

VanderPloeg is the recipient of the 2023 Albert Baxter Award from the Grand Rapids Historical Society for significant contributions to the preservation and interpretation of Grand River Valley history and the 2021 David D. Smith Humanitarian Award from the Grand Rapids Chapter, American Institute of Architects for elevating architecture in the community. VanderPloeg’s background is in Library Administration and Research with Master’s Degrees from Indiana University and Aquinas College.