Cedar St, College Ave, Plainfield Ave
455 Cedar St NE
This is a very unusual style for the City of Grand Rapids so, of course, it fascinated me.
The street information states the street was brick and there was a sidewalk. There was also in the street water, sewer, gas and electricity available to be connected to this house.
A friend of mine used to leave next door and he told me "The basement was built like a brick _____house and the owner, an elderly Jewish man by the name of Jim used to invite me over to shoot the bull, etc.. He told me that the basement was used as a speakeasy and every so often he could smell the pee on the floor in the basement. I recall a massive cement partition through the center of the basement. The wall was over 2 feet thick and it had a large rectangular opening in it. The opening was approximately 4’ x 4’ in this solid cement wall. That old guy was really crippled up with a bad leg and he patched and painted all that crummy old stucco on the outside and did a gorgeous job". He went on to say there was a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath.
752 College Ave NE
1951: double House; Average, Wood Frame; Imitation Brick, Plain trim; Cmps.
Shingle; Full Stone basement, cement floor;
pine trim, pine floors (very wide), 2 baths, 4 rooms on each floor. Owner says
homes built in 1847.
I inspected this home. I knew right away it was very, very old. The walls were very thick. I failed this house as an added rear wall was about to fall down. The landlord refused to fix it. .
This is a sneaky building as it looks like a train station but the real train station was kitty-corner. I know cause I use to catch the train there.
Have to admit I've never been in there because it is so small and it appears to be a MAN's hangout so I never dared go in there alone.
From Heading Architecture
From Website MyGrandRapids.info
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