- City:
- Grand Rapids, MI
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Museums
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1938
- Completed:
- 1940
- Designer:
- Roger Allen
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Grand Rapids Public Museum was built by the Works Progress Administration and opened in 1940. The corner stone bears the date of 1938. The Art Deco Structure at 54 Jefferson was designed by Grand Rapids architect Roger Allen. The structure now houses the Museum as integral part of the Community Archives and Research Center.
“The exterior is faced on the south and west sides with broad and smooth surfaced limestone above a base of polished black granite. The main entrance has paired projecting bays on either side of the symmetrically balanced façade. There are two glass display units framed by the polished black granite flanking the entry, with glass block windows above, and three more display units on the south side of the building.” (https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMPNA6)
Source notes
National Archives, RG 69 Records of the Work Projects Administration, “Information Service (Primary) File, 1936-1942.”
Waymarking: (https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMPNA6), accessed February 18, 2018.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum: (https://www.grpm.org/about/), accessed February 18, 2018.
Site originally submitted by Brent McKee - wpatoday.org on May 22, 2013.
Additional contributions by Douglass Halvorsen, February 16, 2018.
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Tom Griesinger
This building has been mostly vacant since the museum moved in 1994 to a new location. It was used to store extra museum artifacts and public records. It just recently was selected as the site of a new school and is currently under such development. See link provided.
https://grcity.us/Pages/Public-Museum-School-partners-announce-historic-agreement-on-54-Jefferson.aspx