Peck Block

Last updated
Peck Block
PeckBlockGrandRapidsMI.jpg
Location34-50 Monroe Center NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Coordinates 42°57′51″N85°40′07″W / 42.96417°N 85.66861°W / 42.96417; -85.66861 (Peck Block) Coordinates: 42°57′51″N85°40′07″W / 42.96417°N 85.66861°W / 42.96417; -85.66861 (Peck Block)
Arealess than one acre
Built1875 (1875)
Built byReuben Wheeler
Architectural style Italianate
NRHP reference No. 00001483 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 7, 2000

The Peck Block is a commercial building located at 34-50 Monroe Center NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. [1] The building has been rehabilitated to house condos on the upper floors. [2]

Contents

History

Amos Rathbone came to Grand Rapids from Covington, Indiana in 1839, joining his brother Albert. He opened a general store in partnership with his nephew, and by 1843 was profitable enough to warrant constructing a new building, the city's first stone commercial structure. Rathbone diversified into other businesses, including mining gypsum and investing in the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. In the early 1870s, Rathbone began developing brick commercial blocks along Monroe Street, demolishing the frame houses previously there and pushing the city's commercial core outward. Rathbone worked with builder Reuben Wheeler to construct these new commercial blocks. In 1875, Rathbone had this commercial building constructed. It was initially called the "Rathbone Block," but soon became known as the "Peck Block," named after the large Peck Brothers Drugstore which took up tenancy in the corner of the block. Peck Brothers was founded by Thomas and John Peck, and soon was worth several million dollars. John Peck was later a victim of a sensational New York murder in 1916. [3]

Peck Drugs remained a tenant in the Block until 1968 when it was sold to Revco Drugs. Revco remained in the space until 1988. Amos Rathbone owned the Peck Block until his death in 1882, after which it, along with much of his estate, passed to Rathbone Trust. The Trust was established to manage his real estate interests for the benefit of his wife, Amanda, two nieces, and a nephew. The Peck Block remained in the hands of the Trust until 1992, when it was sold to the Kent County Council for Historic Preservation. [3] The building was rehabilitated in 1999, and houses commercial space on the first floor and condos above. [2]

Description

The Peck Block is a three-story brick Italianate structure, composed of three separate buildings sharing a unified facade. The buildings fill an irregular lot, with the two westernmost buildings fronting on Monroe Center having a rectangular footprint and the third building filling the triangular-shaped corner of the lot. The facade along Monroe is eleven bays wide, with a single narrow bay bay over the entry at the Monroe and Division corner.. The bays are separated by brick piers running up the upper two stories from an intermediate cornice above the first floor. A bracketed metal cornice runs across the top of the building. The bays alternate wider bays with three windows per floor and narrower bays with one window per floor, which originally contained stairways leading to the upper floors. The windows are one-over-one, double-hung units, in segmental arches on the second floor and round arches on the third floor. [3]

Related Research Articles

Cass–Davenport Historic District United States historic place

The Cass–Davenport Historic District is a historic district containing four apartment buildings in Detroit, Michigan, roughly bounded by Cass Avenue, Davenport Street, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The Milner Arms Apartments abuts, but is not within, the district.

Olmsted-Hixon-Albion Block United States historic place

The Olmsted-Hixon-Albion Block is a historic commercial block at 1645-1659 Main Street in the South End of downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. The building is actually three separate 19th-century buildings that were conjoined by internal connections in 1929, making a good example of adaptive reuse of commercial architecture in the city. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings United States historic place

The Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings, also known as the Monroe Block, is a historic district located along a block-and-a-half stretch at 16-118 Monroe Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, just off Woodward Avenue at the northern end of Campus Martius. The district was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The thirteen original buildings were built between 1852 and 1911 and ranged from two to five stories in height. The National Theatre, built in 1911, is the oldest surviving theatre in Detroit, a part of the city's original theatre district of the late 19th century, and the sole surviving structure from the original Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings historic period.

Chesterton Commercial Historic District United States historic place

The Chesterton Commercial Historic District is a historic district in Chesterton, Indiana.

Harlow Block (Marquette, Michigan) United States historic place

The Harlow Block is a commercial building located at 100 West Washington Street in Marquette, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Asa Hanson Block United States historic place

The Asa Hanson Block is a historic commercial building at 548-550 Congress Street in Downtown Portland, Maine. It was built in 1889 to a design by local architect Francis Fassett in partnership with Frederick A. Tompson, and is one of a small number of surviving commercial designs by Fassett in the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Henry Berg Building United States historic place

The Henry Berg Building is a historic building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. It is on the same block as Davenport Bank and Trust, Central Office Building and 202 W. Third Street. It is also next to the Ficke Block on Harrison Street. All of these structures are listed on the National Register.

Alma Downtown Historic District (Alma, Michigan) United States historic place

The Alma Downtown Historic District is a commercial historic district in Alma, Michigan, roughly located along Superior Street between the Pine River and Prospect Avenue, and along State Street between Center and Downie Streets. Parts of the district were designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1975, and the entirety was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. It contains 72 structures, primarily brick commercial buildings, ranging from one to three stories in height and dating from 1874 to the 1960s.

New Center Commercial Historic District United States historic place

The New Center Commercial Historic District is a commercial historic district located on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore Street and Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Ziepprecht Block Historic building in Dubuque, Iowa, United States

The Ziepprecht Block is a historic building located in Dubuque, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1888, it is a fine example of transitional commercial Italianate architecture. The three-story brick structure features a heavy projecting cornice and rounded pediment from the Italianate, with larger paired windows from the Second Empire style, and three-sided bay windows from the Queen Anne style. It is also one of a small number of double storefront blocks that remain in the downtown area. The building is named for Henry Ziepprecht a German-born druggist who settled in Dubuque in 1856 and died in 1887. His estate paid to have this building constructed on the location of an older building that housed his drug store. Now managed by Joseph Wittmer, the drug store and a confectionery were the first businesses to occupy the storefronts. The upper floors housed apartments. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Aldrich Building United States historic place

The Aldrich Building is a historic building located at 98 Monroe Center, NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since November 12, 1982.

Weinmann Block United States historic place

The Weinmann Block is a commercial building located at 219-223 East Washington Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Union Block (Saline, Michigan) United States historic place

The Union Block is a commercial building located at 100-110 East Michigan Avenue in Saline, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Arbaugh United States historic place

The Arbaugh is a mixed-use building containing 48 loft-style apartments, which was originally built as a department store. The building is located at 401 South Washington in Lansing, Michigan. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Goodspeed Brothers Building Commercial structure in Grand Rapids

The Goodspeed Brothers Building is a commercial structure located at 188 Monroe Street NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Loraine Building United States historic place

The Loraine Building, located at 124 East Fulton Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was constructed as an apartment building, and was later converted into office space. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Michigan Trust Company Building United States historic place

The Michigan Trust Company Building, also known as the Michigan Trust Building or just the Trust Building, is an office building located at 40 Pearl Street NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Ledyard Block Historic District United States historic place

The Ledyard Block Historic District is a group of seven adjacent, coherently designed, nineteenth century commercial structures located within a square block at 123-145 Ottawa Avenue and 104-124 Monroe Center, NW, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The group of buildings was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Grand Rapids Savings Bank Building United States historic place

The Grand Rapids Savings Bank Building is an office building located at 60 Monroe Center, NW, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Aldrich Godfrey and White Block United States historic place

The Aldrich, Godfrey, and White Block is a commercial building located at 89-99 Monroe Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Peck Condos". Grand Rapids Real Estate. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Rebecca Smith-Hoffman (December 13, 1999), National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Peck Block, National Park Service