With BuildingStoryPress.com, content creator Pam VanderPloeg documents and shares the architectural background of historic, modern, and contemporary buildings and historic architects and builders. Articles and stories are found on the drop-down menus, and published works and a projects-in-process update are shown below.

Photos and text are copyright 2025 unless noted. Unauthorized use of text or images prohibited by law.

PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT

Grand Rapids Downtown Buildings $30.

Researched and Photographed by Pam VanderPloeg

Available at the Curiosity Shop, GR Public Museum (272 Pearl NW)!

This book features 180 buildings on located on 14 contiguous streets in Grand Rapids vibrant downtown. Here the monumental brick buildings of the 1800s stand tall, harmoniously juxtaposed with sleek 20th and 21st-century concrete and glass towers. Nearly all of the buildings are identified with architect and builder and include a brief description of their place in Grand Rapids’ storied history.

Pick up your copy at the Public Museum Gift Shop. Support the Museum and enjoy this book in a comfy armchair or on a pleasant downtown stroll.

Ottawa Hills: Early Owners, Architects & Builders $40.

New 2025 printing with an expanded introduction. This book will soon be available from the new website shop. For immediate availability contact: buildingstorypress@gmail.com.

Many thanks to the Ottawa Hills Garden Tour sponsors for the fun book signing opportunity on Saturday, June 28, 2025!

Also watch a special segment “Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” for a profile of the Ottawa Hills and Heritage Hills neighborhood produced by WGVU and hosted by Jennifer Moss, as she tours the neighborhood with the OHNA—airs July 9 and 12 on WGVU.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Pantlind Lecture Series, OLLI at Aquinas College— “The Story of the Pantlind Hotel” on Wednesday, October 15 from 9:30 to 11 and on the October 22 — the Tour with the Pantline Director of Rooms, Lindsay Hovingh. Watch for a link to the OLLI website for the Fall Catalog and how to register.

“Grand Rapids Downtown Buildings” —West Michigan Genealogical Society, November 1, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. Grand Rapids Public Library Auditorium.

"Grand Rapids Iconic Downtown Hotels, Still Here and Long Gone" —Michigan Postcard Club Monday, December 8 at 7 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, Grand Rapids.

NEW BOOK PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

Grand Rapids Modern Homes and Buildings — Post-WWII architects and builders who put the modern into the metropolitan city.  Long in the making, this book is an image-rich history of the modern designs constructed by these architects and builders during the economic boom and housing shortage of the post-World War II years.

J. Alexander McColl —A catalog of nearly 200 homes and buildings designed by the talented and popular architect who became one of the city’s most prolific residential designers of upscale period-style homes. Graduating from the University of Michigan in 1916, McColl began immediately designing homes and buildings and continued working until his death in 1968. He left behind an impressive body of residential design from historic revival to modern styles and some, due to age of the buildings and the value of the property itself, are endangered.

NEW WEBSITE COMING —Midtown GR Neighborhood— Stories about the homes and sites in this late 19th- and early 20th-century neighborhood that developed via street car transportation. A neighborhood growing in popularity, its hotspots include the popular Fulton Street Farmer’s Market, Martha’s Vineyard (technically in Heritage Hills), Houseman Field, and the Fulton Street Cemetery, the city’s oldest cemetery. This highly walkable neighborhood was home to many interesting city residents, including former First Lady Betty Bloomer Ford, who grew up in Midtown on Fountain Street and was the wife of 38th President Gerald R. Ford.

Content Creator and Site Administrator Pam VanderPloeg is the recipient of the 2023 Albert Baxter Award from the Grand Rapids Historical Society for significant contributions to the preservation and interpretation of Grand River Valley history and the 2021 David D. Smith Humanitarian Award from the Grand Rapids Chapter, American Institute of Architects for elevating architecture in the community. VanderPloeg’s background is in Library Administration and Research, with Master’s Degrees from Indiana University and Aquinas College.