LA Dave

LMichigan: These are great pics. I really had no idea Lansing had such pretty areas so close to town. I am having to revise my West Michigan-prejudices about the capital city.

Don't forget that you are pretty close to Lake Michigan at Grand Rapids. To my knowledge, there are not a lot of major tributaries to the Grand after Plaster Creek and before the river empties into the big lake. It is great to see the river so blue. When I was a kid, it ran an ugly brown and smelled like it.

I wasn't. I declared a truce. 'Nuff said. Regarding residence halls. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when the University was growing very quickly, the only new residence halls to be built were Markley and Bursley. As a result, not only did you get high-rises but also a lot of new low-rise apartments. At this time, the fashion for students was to get out of university housing ASAP and into an apartment, so they could live like "adults." Now, that fashions have changed and students (and parents) realize the value of residence hall living, new dorms are being planned. North Quad is an attempt to redress the situation, I guess. I must disagree a bit about high-rises, also -- I don't think they are needed in the student area. Quality low-rises (five to six-story maximum) preserve the streetscape and sunlight (always a rare commodity in Ann Arbor in the winter) and don't contribute to massive traffic jams. Downtown may be a different story, but I agree that given the political landscape in Ann Arbor, that is unlikely. Curious where the University was supposed to be located -- I was always under the impression that it was placed exactly where it was intended -- a cow pasture.

OK, truce. I was a little peeved at the admonishment relating to the reposting of Woverine's great pictures of a former residence hall of mine, given that you are not a moderator of the Ann Arbor forum.

"Testy?" Perhaps. But as someone who lived in Ann Arbor for seven years, I think that it is the most charming of Michigan's larger cities, and certainly far more liveable than most, some ugly 1960s high rises aside. Hey, I actually once posted a positive comment about buildings in Lansing -- a city that, with all due respect, is hardly one to shout about, architecturally speaking.

Uh -- Lmichigan -- Tower Plaza and University Towers, etc. are not "downtown." As Wolverine explained, downtown Ann Arbor is a distinct area, primarily west of Division, though centered around Main Street and Huron. And as for dated -- nothing can beat those State of Michigan office buildings in your favorite Michigan city. yeech.

Great pics -- one of them looks like West Quad -- Chicago House -- Room 201. Ah, memories.

I rarely post in this forum, being from GR and partial to the counties west. But I saw the picture of the auditorium at MSU and it brought back pleasant memories. I attended a few concerts there many years ago and, as I recall, that auditorium is a near duplicate of the old Civic Auditorium in GR. The MSU auditorium was done in college Romanesque while the Civic was designed in sort of a moderne Classical style. All that is left of the Civic is the entry hall, which is a really cool example of "ocean liner" interior architecture from the early 1930s. Good to see that the MSU building is still there.

Boy, these shots brought me back -- to memories of slush, an iced-up car, boots . . . But then I recalled the beauty of West Michigan on a cold winter day. Great shots, GRD!

Boy that great shot brings back a lot of memories. I spent three years in that place. Each issue of the Law School magazine has a cover featuring aspects of the Law Quad. In receiving many issues of the magazine, I have never seen a repeated image.

GR Dad: Outstanding! I would quickly copyright that image and rush it over to Varnum Riddering's PR person. What a great shot for the firm brochure!

Share them, share them! On the GR Board, if you don't mind, or here, to educate those snobby East Staters.

Not to be snarky, Wolve, but these houses, nice as they are, are a dime a dozen on Heritage Hill. In Grand Rapids. Yes, that Grand Rapids. But I like the pics. (And A-squared has a significant amount of great 1840s architecture, more than GR, probably because it was settled somewhat sooner.)

Lord, yes. The old S-curve was a true test of a driver's mettle, especially when its concrete surface was covered with ice and one was not driving a sports sedan but his father's 1964 Dodge 330. Yikes!

That's Detroit??? Wow. I must say, as a native West Michigander (GR born and bred), this is a real surprise.

Uh, no, the pics are by GR Dad. I am incapable of such artistry.

Love the pictures -- hate the neon. Why did the GR Ford Presidential Museum find it necessary to advertise its presence so? Yuck. Yuck.

Yeah, a real shame. But at least the original building is still there. Grand Rapids Union Station, and its wonderful shed, were torn down around 1960. The framework for the shed remained for some years thereafter in a lumber products building, but burned down a few years ago.

Great picture. When I was a student at the U, the Gandy Dancer was one of the few nice restaurants in town. How times have changed.

While I always like visiting Rackham, that cold, formal, neo-classic style always brings to mind Albert Speer. Probably Speer's problem, not Kahn.

Incredible rendering of what Burton tower might have looked like. I guess the suicide fence is important; I seem to recall that a former regent jumped to her death from Burton Tower several years ago.

Glad to hear that some things never change

Great pic, as always. The story that I heard about the LSA building is that it was supposed to be red brick (to match much of the other existing campus architecture) but due to postwar shortages (it was built in 1947), the salmon colored brick had to be used. Frankly, as bad as the LSA building is, the Business School always beat it for sure base ugliness. Or maybe the stainless steel addition to the back of the Law School (which is scheduled to be demolished in the Renzo Piano renovation of the Law Quad).

Actually Haven and Mason Hall were both built in the 1950s. They were butt ugly then, and butt ugly when I attended the U 20 years later. I'm not sure the reskinning is all that successful, but anything was better than what had been. I guess a similar transformation was done to the UGLI (which certainly merited its name). I understand that it now has the dignified name of the Harold Shapiro Library.

NatSci is one of many grand Kahn buildings on campus; my two favorites have always been West Engineering and the Clements Library.