MID-CENTURY MODERN TRAVEL & LEISURE
INTRODUCTION: From the 1940s through the 1970s) architects and builders changed the look of cities like Grand Rapids and Lakeshore resort towns with modern architecture that merged new technology with innovative design. Many of the sites on this virtual tour are simple and inexpensive modern structures transformed into trendy shops, fine dining, ice cream parlors, libraries and bookstores. Some were more complicated, revolutionary, and important to the historic building stock. Some are so beautiful they just need to be viewed and appreciated.
MID-CENTURY MODERN TRAVEL & LEISURE IN WEST MICHIGAN —A VIRTUAL TOUR
1. Grand Rapids Buildings/Sites
2 - Wealthy Street Repurposed Service Stations
3. ROAD TRIP to Lakeshore MCM sites.
CREDITS: This Virtual Tour is an expanded version of the West Michigan portion of the Docomomo US/MI Chapter Virtual Tour developed by Pam VanderPloeg in collaboration with the Docomomo U.S./MI Chapter. Project Chair, Katherine White, Henry Ford Curator of Design DOCOMOMO-MI board member.
1 - Grand Rapids Buildings & Sites
During the 1920s in Grand Rapids large areas of vacant lands and a number of golf courses were platted with the intention of developing new neighborhoods. The Depression and World War II put a near end to the building industry. It wasn’t until the end of World War II that new optimism created incredible growth and the wonderful mid-century buildings you see below. The city annexed large areas of the surrounding townships and the city expanded. Urban renewal resulted in the demolition of old buildings in the downtown area (some beloved like the old city hall) and the construction of new modern office towers.
During 1940s to 1970s era building boom, nationally known architects like Eric Mendelsohn, Gunner Birkerts, the firm Skidmore, Ownings and Merrill, and artist Alexander Calder designed modern structures that now sit side-by-side with the modern architecture designed by Grand Rapids own mid-century architects like Daverman Associates, David Post, E. John Knapp, Marvin DeWinter, Paul Bower and Robert Wold, Harris VerSchure, and so many others. A selection of these are included below as part of this virtual MCM Travel & Leisure tour.
2 - Wealthy Street Mid-Century Repurposed Service Stations
In the last twenty years, abandoned service stations on historic Wealthy Street SE have been renovated and repurposed. Wealthy Street is a busy Grand Rapids east-west corridor full of historic homes, dotted with commercial buildings, and home to a large number of trendy restaurants—even a coffee trailer. The old service stations were traditionally built on busy corners to attract motorist’s attention. These buildings are right-sized for restaurants and, being located in close proximity to one another, they create a real draw for pedestrians and motorists. The buildings date from the 1920s through the 1950s. Architectural styles range from Spanish/Mediterranean to moderne and mid-century modern. Reinvestment in the Wealthy Street neighborhood has created an eclectic mix of renovated buildings with great shopping, dining, and coffee shops. Not all of the buildings arel MCM.
Road trip! Lakeshore MCM Sites
Some fun MCM destinations found along the lakeshore. Although many Lake Michigan shoreline resort venues are open primarily in the summer months, West MIchigan sugar sand beaches are spectacular year-round and are a must-do day trip being just a mere 30-45 minute drive from Michigan cities like Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Note: the park concessions and pavilion buildings are only open in the summer months.
History: When the first state parks were established in the 1920s, yearly attendance was measured in 1922 at about 244,000 visi- tors. By 1955, state parks welcomed roughly 17.8 million visitors — a 70-fold increase. During the same time period, Michigan’s population rose dramatically from 3.9 million to 7.3 million, an increase of over 180 percent. — Michigan DNR. (From the DNR website).
Saugatuck’s Lake Michigan Oval Beach was rated one of the nation’s top 25 beaches. Both Saugatuck and neighboring Douglas have been extremely popular with tourists throughout the 1900s and there are modern buildings to be found in downtown Saugatuck and neighboring Douglas. Examples include the converted Harriss Pie Company Factory, now the modern Saugatuck Center for the Arts. Also many mid-century buildings survive along the area’s historic Blue-Star Highway. Blue Star Highways were designated in this way in 1945 in locations around the nation following World War II to honor the U.S. Armed Forces, a project sponsored by The National Council of State Garden Clubs. The symbolism of the blue star is that it was used on service flags to denote a service member fighting in the war. The MCM buildings along this historic highway include restaurants, ice-cream shops, motels, and shops.
HOLLAND—Drive north about 12 miles to Holland. Holland began as a Dutch settlement founded in 1847 by Albertus van Raalte. From the beginning the big lake was important to the settlement’s prosperity and growth. Today’s Ottawa Beach Road follows the channel between Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan but the deep water channel wasn’t there in the 1840s. Van Raalte and the settlers, lacking another means to dredge the channel for ship traffic, had to dig it out themselves. In the mid-century Ottawa Beach Road like today is the road to the popular Holland State Park Beach —
GRAND HAVEN AND MUSKEGON: While modern architecture was going up all around them West Michigan teens channeled California, built homemade boards to surf Lake Michigan, collected vinyl records, and grew up in the post-war ranch homes their parents bought in new suburban neighborhoods. In this section we start at the Grand Haven State Park beach.
