Welcome!
This website features highlights of my research into the history of buildings and architects, primarily centered in, but not limited to, metropolitan Grand Rapids, the Lakeshore, and West Michigan, from the post-Civil War era to the end of the mid-century. If you wish to contact me about this research, please use this email address: pamvanderploeg@gmail.com.
Featured here is the cover of the Grand Rapids Downtown Buildings, a study, completed in 2023 and reprinted in 2025. If you love the city as I do, you will enjoy paging through these short histories of 180 buildings on a walk or from your favorite chair. This travel-book-sized, softcover guide makes it easy to bring history right along with you as you tour Grand Rapids' architecturally stunning central city.
You can get this historical study here on the website, or at the wonderful Grand Rapids Pubic Museum “Old Curiosity Shop” AND the delightful Periwinkle Fog shop on Ottawa NW.
AND COMING SOON!
“The Extraordinary Design Portfolio of Grand Rapids Architect. Alexander McColl, AIA (1891-1967)”
Something special that is nearly ready for publication is a catalog of the works of Architect Alexander McColl AIA (1891-1967). It has been a great honor to research the 325-plus documented homes and buildings designed by this talented and prolific architect who left a lasting legacy of gracious residential architecture. His designs can be found throughout Grand Rapids, in East Grand Rapids, along the Lake Michigan shoreline, in Kalamazoo, and north in the Crystal Downs/Frankfort area. McColl was also commissioned to design for clients in other Michigan cities. This researcher is so grateful to be working with the descendants of the McColl family to reconstruct the architect’s incredible legacy, especially as family members have been steadfast in preserving original documents and records. Look for this catalog of Alexander McColl’s work in the summer of 2026.
QUICK NOTE:
The Ottawa Hills Neighborhood study has been updated with information on the early years of the adjacent historic Indian Village homes in East Grand Rapids. These homes, like the Ottawa Hills homes, are truly beautiful and gracious historic-revival designs by the popular Grand Rapids architects of the day.
Also, check out the Winter-Spring 2026 Michigan Postcard Club Newsletter, which I just finished and is published here. We have a great new collaboration with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids. And if you link to the newsletter, you will note upcoming Spring (and soon) Fall 2026 programs. The next event is on May 11, 2026, featuring historian M. Christine Byron Monday, 7pm, May 11, 2026 “Shall We Dance? Michigan dance venues in the first half of the 20th Century,” at the Grace Hauenstein Library at Aquinas, 159 Woodward SE, GR.
WATCH FOR: AUGUST 2026 - MIDTOWN HOUSE STORIES
Look for the new issue of Midtown House Stories available here in AUGUST 2026. This small quarterly newsletter-style publication is my homage to our wonderful neighborhood, located just east of the historic Heritage Hill area. Midtown is a great early streetcar neighborhood featuring original Craftsman-style bungalows and early-1900s Vernacular homes!
Check Back Soon!
Please check back again soon for new website content. In the meantime, use the Navigation Bar to read material listed on the drop-down menus. One of my favorite new website features is a page on Grand Rapids sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The first entry just went up—Grand Rapids painter, Mathias Alten’s home and studio. Thank you for stopping by!
ABOUT THE WEBSITE CURATOR/ADMINISTRATOR: Pam VanderPloeg, A.B., M.L.S., M.M., is a researcher and writer, and the winner of local awards for raising the awareness of Grand Rapids history and architecture in the community.