City of Grand Rapids City-County Administration Buildings

Excellent

City of Grand Rapids City-County Administration Buildings

Site overview

The International style 10-story City Hall, and 3-story County Administration Building, are modern steel structures clad in brown Canadian granite and bronzed glass, set back from the street on Vandenberg Center’s raised concrete plaza. Symmetrical, dark and rectangular, they share the plaza with the bright red Calder stabile “La Grand Vitesse,” and overlook the mid-century banks and commercial buildings constructed during 1960’s urban renewal. The County Building roof is covered with an Alexander Calder painting.

City of Grand Rapids City-County Administration Buildings

Site overview

The International style 10-story City Hall, and 3-story County Administration Building, are modern steel structures clad in brown Canadian granite and bronzed glass, set back from the street on Vandenberg Center’s raised concrete plaza. Symmetrical, dark and rectangular, they share the plaza with the bright red Calder stabile “La Grand Vitesse,” and overlook the mid-century banks and commercial buildings constructed during 1960’s urban renewal. The County Building roof is covered with an Alexander Calder painting.

Commission

1966

Completion

1969

Others associated with Building/Site

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago with Associate Architects, O’Bryon & Nachtegall, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Owen, Ames Kimball, Contractors.

References

“Vandenberg Center (City-County Administration Buildings)” in SAH Archipedia eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012 – , http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-KT1.  Accessed 2017-3-23.

 

Buildings of Michigan, revised edition, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville:  University of Virginia Press, 2012, pp. 244-245.