BATTLE CREEK, MI
175 Main St., Battle Creek, MI 49016
Former Grand Trunk Depot, Battle Creek, MI; October 1998
| The massive Grand Trunk Depot in Battle Creek was built
in 1906 to plans prepared by the architectural firm of Spier and Rohns. Local
contractors M.M. Lewis and Sons of Battle Creek constructed the facility
and the Adix-Bartoschek Co. of Detroit served as interior decorators.The
cost of construction was $100,000. The 1907 Battle Creek Daily Journal proudly
called it "one of the most elaborate and finely finished depots in the country".
The design includes grey granite walls on the first floor,
brick and cut stone trim walls above that, and a Spanish tile roof. As originally
built, there were rounded domes, similar to those on the track side, atop
the tower roofs. A long covered platform extended well over 100' to the east,
where there was a freight/baggage room. Inside, there was a dining room and
kitchen on the east end, with railroad offices above, on the second
floor. Most important was the amazing waiting room, 90 by 32 feet, with
thirty-foot high barrel-vaulted ceilings. Its walls were originally dark
blue, studded with renaissance ornaments of gold and cream. Along the sides
of the waiting room were the ticket and telegraph office, men's smoking lounge,
a women's "retiring room" lounge, and a massive
fireplace. In the west end of the waiting room,
faux marble columns support the exterior
wall.
The building was in use as a passenger station through 1971
when Amtrak took over passenger service on the Grand Trunk. The railroad
used the building as office space until 1988. In 1989 the depot underwent
a major renovation, for use as home to the
Community Action Agency (CAA) of South
Central Michigan. Parts of the building are open to the public during business
hours.
The Grand Trunk main line and two Amtrak routes pass in
front of the old depot. Just west of downtown Battle Creek, the old Michigan
Central Detroit-Chicago track joins the Grand Trunk tracks for the run through
downtown. Just east of the Grand Trunk depot is another junction where the
lines separate. The "International" stays on the Grand Trunk to Port Huron,
while Chicago-Detroit trains rejoin the old Michigan Central route. Amtrak
trains now stop at a new depot on the south edge of downtown. |
Track Side/West End
Track Side/East End
As originally built, both towers were topped by domes as shown above,
and the open-ended gable roof used to extend out to the baggage room.
West End of Street Side
East end of Street Side
| A grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation allowed CAA
to not only buy the building, but also make it better suited to their need
for a lot of office space. The goal of the renovation architect, Randy Case,
and the project manager, Michael Spezia, was to preserve the original structure
of the building as much as possible and to make it functional office space.
One of the challenges presented was that of making the main vaulted ceiling
area functional without destroying the grandeur of the area. The solution
was to build a mezzanine.
It fills most of the vaulted ceiling area, and is connected
to the old second floor by a walkway and new doorway cut into the east end
of the waiting room . One nice benefit of the new mezzanine is that you can
now touch the high vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows that were far
out of reach in 1906.
Fortunately, the budget allowed for restoration , or in
some cases rebuilding, of most of the wonderful architectural details of
the original building. Old partitions were removed, and extensive plaster
repair work was done. The northeast entrance area with its large open oak
staircase was restored to its 1906 appearance.
Michigan Woodworking repaired and replaced damaged oak wainscoting and windows
throughout the building. Many of the original, beautiful stained glass windows
had either been broken or covered over . Amazingly, the original Illinois
glass manufacturer was still in business and was contracted to do the restoration
work on the stained glass. A mural of the Kalamazoo River was uncovered during
renovation. It had a number of gaping holes, but through a grant for historical
restoration, it was returned to its original beauty. The postcard view of
the interior shown below has links to several other interior
features. |
Waiting Room Interior, Looking East
Click details for Pictures.
East end of Station, Covered walkway, and Baggage/Express Room
|
