Bricks Bridges & Buildings

This evening I attended a tour of some historic sites in downtown Flint. The tour was called Bricks Bridges & Buildings; it was provided by the Michigan Historic Preservation Network (MHPN) as part of their annual conference. Thanks to the graciousness of the Flint AIA, students were able to participate in these tours free of charge as guests and I found myself lucky enough to be included. 

I found this experience to be great. The information provided by our guides, Jackie Hoist - AIA and Ron Campbell - AIA was very interesting. I am sure that I will never remember everything that was discussed but I have filed away some interesting facts about Flint. For example: 
 - The Mott Building (a 16 story building) sits on large, wood piles not, a poured concrete foundation.  
 - Riverbank Park was actually created to protect the city from annual flooding of the Flint River and contains many fountains which have been shut off for decades.
 - Despite being built almost half a century after the Mott Building, The Genesee Towers Building is nearly 12" out of plumb and is crumbling.
 - Blackstone's pub & grill was originally Blackstone's men's clothing store. The investors who reopened the building chose to keep the name in homage to Flint's past.
 - The current Halo Burger at the corner of 4th and Saginaw was one of the first Vernors outlets and the huge Vernors mural was painted on the adjacent building (a hardware at the time) to give outdoor diners something interesting to look at.
 - The bricks which are laid on Saginaw Street are originals from 1899 when they were first set. In the 50's the bricks were pulled up, the road-bed was graded and re-packed and the brick was flipped over and re-set. This is sustainability a century before it was a buzz word!

Ms. Hoist and Mr. Campbell were fantastic guides with a great knowledge of the city as well as a genuine interest in its' preservation. I have driven down Saginaw street several times and "noticed" the architecture there but, walking the street gave me the opportunity to really "see" the great buildings that occupy the main thoroughfare.

I took a great many pictures on this tour. Here is a link to all of the pictures. I will give fair warning, I am not a photographer and, I have an obsession with stone details!

If you wish to skip the link, here are a few, select pictures.

 

The Vernors mural

The round windows in this building were previously covered up by an earlier 'renovation'.

An old painted sign

The highly decorated elevators inside the Mott Building

Stainless steel art-deco details in the second floor lobby of the Mott Building

The heavy masonry details of the Masonic Temple

Another building mural