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The Government Building (1)

1880-1890

The three story brick building, in the Romanesque Revival style, has small gabled dormers in the hipped roof, windows and entrances with arch surrounds, and Italianate brackets under the roofline. Several men are seen in front, one with a bicycle commonly referred to as a "bone shaker."

Subjects

Full Details

Title	The Government Building (1)
Date	1880-1890
Current Address	No long exists
Pre 1912 Address	Block bounded by Lyon, N. Division, Pearl and Ionia Streets
Architect	William Appleton Potter, Supervising Architects Office of the U.S. Treasury Dept. 1874-1877
Contractor	John R. Stewart, Superintendent of Construction
Date Constructed	Completed 1879
Original Owner	Federal Governement
Original Use	Post Office, Internal Revenue, and US Court officers
Neighborhood	Downtown
Information Source	The History of the City of Grand Rapids by Albert Baxter. 1891
Notes	Referred to as the Government Building in Baxter's history, it was also known as the U.S. Court House and Post Office. Congress appropriated $212,000 in the fall of 1878 for the structure and the site. The building is often attributed to James G. Hill, Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Dept. from August 1876-1883. Since the Government Building was constructed during his tenure he would have been the supervising architect, technically, but the building was designed by Potter. Potter's 1876 design, shown in the American Architecture and Building News, does not include the Italianate brackets beneath the roof-line nor the gabled dormers. Those may have been added to the design by Hill. The Federal Building, which replaced the Government Building in 1909, was designed by Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor, 1897-1912. Later that building was occupied solely by the Post Office. It then became home to the Art Museum but as of 2008 stands empty. The same plans were used for a government building in Dayton, Ohio.
Collection	Thomas Dilley
Location