My local college tears down 3 historical houses...WTF

[Michibacy]

Click here for the link from Lansing State Journal

A friend of mine and I stayed at the first house that was demolished for a short while. The houses were amazing. Very historical yet it seems this college has no regards for history or the city.

I don't mean this to be political but I can't stand how this college has gone completely progressive. They spend $500,000 on destroying them, yet they have an absolutely horrible graduation rate, don't hire "the best" professors, and still charge an arm and a half just to attend their classes. YET, they can't preserve the history and beauty of these houses?

Excuse me while I go vomit.

 

[FmGrowit]

The Off Topic forum is a place for mods to move off topic posts from existing threads.

This thread has been moved to the General discussions forum.

 

[TheOtherOne]

I pretty much woke up to this..
Oregon has a number of amazing buildings that remind me of these.. It's a real shame.
“There are specific pieces that have rare maples, tiger maples and oaks that are original early woods that were milled right here in Michigan,"

 

[darren1979]

Its a shame to see history wiped away like this, in the states do you have preservation orders put on historic homes like we do here? My home was built in the 1860's and we call that a modern home lol. I live down the road from Charles dickens birth place and the whole road has grade 2 listing , meaning you can paint a wall with out national heritage say so.

 

[Michibacy]

Not anything I'm aware of. It goes in front of a counsel, if they say yes ( which they always will, lansing is the next Detroit with everyone's hands in your pocket) it's sold for what ever cause.

 

[Knucklehead]

Are there any pictures of the houses before demolition?

 

[Michibacy]

I only can locate the ones off Google Maps. thought I'd screen shot them before they're updated.

 

[FmGrowit]

That house was obviously turned into commercial use. Chances are most of the original architectural details had been replaced with during a "remodeling" job.

I was in the antique lumber business for many years. We would dismantle barns, houses, log buildings, grain mills, stone walls etc. etc. My biggest competitors were property developers and volunteer fire departments.

 

[Michibacy]

Don, it had been zoned commercial 2 years back, some people still lived in them, nothing inside was converted to commercial, still the original everything except for carpet. The very first picture had about 8 suitable bed rooms (I stayed in one), 3 bathrooms, 3 living rooms, 2 offices, and an attic about 500 square feet open loft. The last picture was an "office building" that hadn't been converted (original wood floors).

I can understand the fire department, around here they big on old houses just to burn them up to..."try" and put them out. (my current house was the same issue about 5 years ago) but even then...these places *should have* stayed with the city, not just torn down as if nothing was there. A lot of people were living there until about a year ago when the city evicted them because they decided to zone it differently.

 

[Michibacy]

But hey, Lansing allowed a new casino!

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...s-court-allows-Lansing-casino-project-proceed

 

[DonH]

Thanks for posting this, even though I know you're upset, but it sure brings back some memories for me, since my family (parents and grandparents) came from Lansing. My aunt used to teach art at LCC many years ago and I remember being down there.

But this kind of thing has been going on for a long time. I remember my grandmother talking about the streets that got destroyed to put in the highway downtown. This was during the disastrous "urban renewal" phase in the sixties. That was before the historic preservation movement got going in the seventies. Now even old factories can get preserved as historic. My grandparents lived across the street from the Fisher Body plant. Is that still operational?

 

[Michibacy]

Sadly not Don, plant 6 was closed in the late 80's and is now just a huge abandoned lot. The newest Transformers movie was partially filmed there believe it or not.

I am just amazed that some don't even care. I have always lived in very old houses and love their history. I drove past the areas his evening. All that's left is a rubble filled basement. Oh well...just gives us fuel to live differently!

 

[Knucklehead]

Just upgrading the windows for better energy savings can change the historical status of a building. The only one that even had a shot was the one in the first two pictures. They know all the loopholes. It's a shame that efforts to move them failed, but two story buildings are a nightmare to move. I've helped move an old log cabin and several log out buildings and the first house my wife and I lived in was a modern house we had moved from 25 miles away. It was a ten year old house that failed a perk test so it had to be moved. We bought it for $6000.00 and paid $3000.00 to move it. A board nailed to the roof in front and pulled down in a bow allowed it to pass under power lines even though the lines contacted the ridge the length of the house. Two story buildings would require all the lines be taken down and all those people left without power or phone during the move. The expense would have been astronomical in a city.

 

[Michibacy]

Knucks, I know what you mean, I've looked over the deconstruction aspects of a few houses and a thought came to mind though I don't know how expensive it would be. (Considering these houses would be literally free to buy, you just need to move them). A grain mill actually moved a 3 story building back in the 90's about 30 miles down the road. Instead of "moving" the mill, they took each story off the next and reassembled them once they had them where they wanted the mill.

I guess the anger has calmed down now, I'm just sad. My friend was quite upset who lived there as well. I guess we have pictures and memories, and those are about worth just as much as the house itself all in all.