22 GRAND - A TRANQUIL MEDITATIVE SPACE

In 2023, when Stephanie and Dennis Squibb bought 22 Grand Ave. NE, it was described as a captivating Midtown treasure! The expansive 4-bed, 1.5 bath home is filled with charm and quality, with beautiful woodwork, stylish furniture, hardwood floors, and leaded-glass windows.

The most fun fact this writer discovered about 22 Grand Ave. NE was that the house was designed by one of Grand Rapids early self-trained women architects, Fanny Boylon. It was constructed by Boylon Builders. Fannie Boylon learned her profession from correspondence courses. The Boylons opened a building company while Fannie’s husband, Fred, a railroad worker, was recuperating from a job-related injury. Fannie asked him to help her renovate and flip their Fulton Street home, and they never looked back. By 1929, they had completed more than 1,200 homes and small buildings. After finishing one of their finest homes, 1505 Alexander SE in the Ottawa Hills neighborhood, Fred and Fred Jr. were tragically killed in a car accident en route to a Detroit business meeting. As a credit to the Boylon’s success, the Michigan Governor attended the funeral, which made the local news. Fannie set aside her overwhelming grief and finished all of the projects that were in process when Fred died. Then, Fannie put away her drafting tools and retired.

In 1914 when Ralph N. Richards bought this house from Boylon Builders for $4,300, he was a supervisor at the American Corrugating Company—The American Corrugating Company was the brainchild of William A. Jack, a traveling salesman who sought to improve the packaging industry by manufacturing corrugated board containers for light and small freight. Jack found investors in Theron and John Goodspeed, who earlier founded a successful partner industry, the American Box Board Company. They poured in capital and corrugated board eventually became the industry standard. William Jack went from traveling shoe salesman to managing a company capitalized at more than $1,000,000. Homeowner Ralph Richards was supervisor at the American Corrugating Company during the two years he owned 22 Grand Ave. NE.

1916-1930 Attorney (Later Judge) H. Dale Souter and Lottie Shirts Souter —By about 1915, a 27-year-old lawyer, H. Dale Souter, and wife, Lottie, bought 22 Grand NE. Souter was a partner at Dilly, Souter & Dilly, a law firm with offices in the Michigan Trust Building that eventually included four generations of attorneys, including the late Thomas Dilly, noted Grand Rapids historian and postcard collector. Owner-attorney Dale Souter graduated from the University of Michigan in 1912 and embarked upon an impressive career ranging from Assistant District Attorney, a federal position, to Grand Rapids city attorney. After an unsuccessful race against George Welsh for mayor, Souter became a Grand Rapids circuit court judge. Dale and Lottie rejoiced in the birth of their son who arrived in 1925 while they lived on Grand Ave. Their busy social life included summers at their family cottage at Stony Lake near Lake Michigan (now owned by their granddaughter and this writer’s friend Libby Souter Brouwer). They were also two of the earliest Cascade Country Club members and helped celebrate the burning of the country club’s mortgage in the 1940s. In 1932, after 15 years in this pretty Midtown home, Dale and Lottie moved to 542 Avalon Terrace.

Several other homeowners stepped to take possession of this wonderful house.

TODAY—Stephanie and Dennis Squibb bought 22 Grand NE after selling their Midcentury home in Grand Rapids Charter Township. The Squibbs love good architecture and before their midcentury home, they owned a Heritage Hills treasure and before that, they lived in Los Angeles. We can’t wait to figure out what their next architectural adventure will be. Meanwhile, they are partners with their daughter, Mallory, in the Squibb Coffee and Wine Bar on Wealthy Street SE and SAV SAV at the Downtown Market. Stephanie teaches meditation in the beautiful, light-filled enclosed porch in their Grand Ave. NE house.