The Crapo Building Bay CIty
by Erick Schmidt
Title
The Crapo Building Bay CIty
Artist
Erick Schmidt
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
Originally known as the Crapo (pronounced kray-po) building, the five-story structure was a modern marvel of its day. An Oct. 11, 1891, Bay City Tribune article said the 10,000-square-foot building possessed “every modern convenience,” including passenger and freight elevators, fire-proof vaults, grates and electricity.
According to the Bay County Historical Society, the building’s original tenants included the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad Co.; Bay City Business Men’s Association; Oppenheim & Son clothing store; Wendland, Christopher and Co. dry goods; T.A.E. and J.C. Weadock law firm; Dr. C.F. Porter’s dentist practice; James B. Corwin insurance firm; McDowell and Hall law firm, E.J. Vance lumber; and George Washington insurance. The Bay City Sunday Times published an article with the headline, “George Washington Moves His Office Into the Crapo Block.”
Famous Michigan architects Leverett Pratt and Walter Koeppe, who designed Bay City Hall, Masonic Temple, St. Stanislaus Church, the LaPorte Building and the Webster House, were also responsible for the design of the Crapo Building. The designers moved their office into the historic building upon its completion, according to a Bay City Tribune article.
In September 1960, the building, which was then known as the Bay City Bank Building, completed a complete exterior remodel, which modernized its look with aluminum and steel screening that stretched from the second to fifth floors above the window walls that form the ground level façade.
Chemical Bank would move in 27 years later.
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August 16th, 2016
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