Lansing's Studio [intrigue] Architects, based in Lansing's REO Town neighborhood, received the prestigious “M” award from the Masonry Institute of Michigan for its $85,000 restoration of the Ranney Building façade in Downtown Lansing.
The Ranney Building, located at 208 S. Washington Square in Downtown Lansing, was designed by Lansing architect Darius Moon in 1890. The three-story Ranney Building was constructed for Dr. George Ranney, who was a nationally renowned surgeon that used the space for his practice.
Ranney died in 1915, and in the 1920s, the building’s owners shut off the upper floors. In the 1940s, a Walgreens occupied the space. In the 1950s, the building’s owners tried to modernize the building’s red sandstone façade by covering it with metal.
Developer Shawn Elliot, of Diamonds in the Rough development company, bought the building a few years ago, undertaking a massive renovation to restore the building to its original shape.
“No one had been up there for decades,” says Dave Vanderklok with Studio [intrigue] Architects about the second and third floors of the building. “The only thing that’s been up there were pigeons and maybe an occasional service man.”
It took Studio [intrigue] Architects nine months to restore the façade. Elliot bought red sandstone from a demolished building in Minnesota to match the original façade material.
“We’re going with the whole idea of the green building concept,” Vanderklok says. “They reused an existing resource and made the decision to purchase that sandstone.”
Vanderklok says he was honored to receive the “M” award for the design and preservation of the Ranney Building.
Menna’s Joint will soon open on the first floor of the building.
Source: Dave Vanderklok, Studio [intrigue] Architects
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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