By Leo V. Kaplan (via Lansing City Pulse)
In July, a single word was changed on the Richard and Deborah Glaister House’s Wikipedia page: “is” was replaced with “was.”
The building had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, but it had no local historic designation. That meant there was nothing to prevent its demolition. It was demolished by its final owner, the City Rescue Mission of Lansing, to make room for a rainwater retention pond.
The Glaister House was one of 10 historic structures on a 2022 list of “at-risk” historic structures compiled by Historical Society of Greater Lansing President Bill Castanier and longtime preservation activist Dale Schrader, then president of Preservation Lansing. The list, published in City Pulse, also singled out the historic Eastern High School building as endangered. Castanier and Schrader’s concerns were proven right when both buildings came down this year.
9. Downtown Masonic Temple
The reason this building made the list is simple, Castanier said: It’s empty.
“It’s empty, and it’s been empty for a number of years, and that is the first indication of a structure that could be at risk,” he said.
Like the Genesee Street School, Edwyn Bowd designed the temple. It was constructed in 1924, and in 1976 Cooley Law School purchased it and operated it until 2014. In 2021, Boji Group bought it.
Mayor Andy Schor wanted to buy it from Boji to move City Hall into the historic structure. That effort failed last year after City Council rejected it in an unexpected vote. The current City Hall, which was on the 2022 iteration of this list, will be converted into a hotel after the city completes construction of a new government headquarters at the corner of Grand and Lenawee Street. But there are no plans for the Masonic Temple.
“I was disappointed to see the City Council veto the plan,” Schrader said. “It looks like a real city hall should look, and now that it didn’t get that, I’m very worried about what’s going to happen with it.”
Source: Lansing City Pulse
Photo Credit: Lansing City Pulse
