Lewis Cass Building

Lewis Cass Building is a state government office in downtown Lansing, Michigan named for territorial governor Lewis Cass. It is the Michigan state government's oldest standing office building. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as "State Office Building" in 1984.[1]

State Office Building
Location320 S. Walnut St., Lansing, Michigan
Coordinates42°43′50″N 84°33′28″W
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1919 (1919)
ArchitectEdwyn Albert Bowd
Architectural styleClassical Revival
NRHP reference No.84001432[1]
Added to NRHPMay 17, 1984

History

The first state office building in Lansing was constructed in 1853; this was replaced with another building in 1872 and demolished the following year. By the 1910s, the state realized the need for a new office building, and funds were appropriated beginning in 1917 for a new structure. Architect Edwyn A. Bowd of Lansing was engaged to design the building, and plans were approved in 1918. Construction began in 1919, but was not completed until 1921.[2]

The building served as the state office building until the completion of the first part of a new state government complex in 1953. In 1951, a major fire caused severe damage to the building. In the reconstruction, the seventh floor was removed, leaving the remaining six. The building is now a six-story U-shaped Classical Revival structure, a seventh story having been removed after a major fire in 1951.[3] The building remains in use by the state.

On June 30, 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the renaming of the building as the Elliott-Larsen Building in honor of lawmakers who sponsored Michigan's bipartisan civil rights law of 1976.[4]

Description

The Lewis Cass Building is now a six-story (originally seven-story) U-shaped Classical Revival structure with a flat roof, with a facade of cream-colored sandstone above a granite basement. A cornice separates the second and third floors, forming a base for four-story piasters with Tuscan capitals above. An entablature with cornice runs above the pilasters. As originally built, the building had three arched entrances. After the 1951 fire, two entrances were removed, and the main entrance completely rebuilt as a projecting gray granite entryway.[2]

Government Agencies

State of Michigan government agencies located in Cass Building:

  • Department of Management and Budget
  • Department of Community Health

The Lewis Cass Building is getting a first-floor facelift as of early 2009.

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Charles C. Cotman (October 1983), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form: State Office Building
  3. "State Office Building, MI State Preservation Objects". Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  4. Michigan Executive Order 2020-139 (PDF) https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MIEOG/2020/06/30/file_attachments/1485253/EO%202020-139%20Elliott-Larsen%20Building.pdf. Retrieved June 30, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)


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