McKay Tower is a building in downtown

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, located on Monroe Center. The building is

mixed-use Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...

for apartments, office space, retail and is a venue for events. It is currently the fifth tallest building in Grand Rapids.

History

19th century

The location of McKay Tower is where the first non-Native American marriage took place in Grand Rapids in 1834, only a few years after settlers arrived and the area was surveyed as part of the

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit w ...

. The marriage took place in a cabin that was owned by the

American pioneer American pioneers were European American and African American settlers who migrated westward from the Thirteen Colonies and later United States to settle in and develop areas of North America that had previously been inhabited or used by Nati ...

, Joel Guild which involved his daughter Harriet Guild and Barney Burton. The first town meeting was also held at the cabin that had a total number of nine voters.

20th century

The Wonderly Building was then built on the location in 1890. The first two floors of McKay Tower were then built in their current manner in 1915 and the building was then known as the Grand Rapids National Bank. Another 11 floors were added between 1921 and 1927. In 1942, the tower was bought from the Grand Rapids National Bank by Grand Rapids businessman and politician, Frank D. McKay. In the early 1940s, two additional mechanical floors were added to the tower. From the completion of the tower in 1927 to 1983, the McKay Tower was the tallest building in Grand Rapids until the completion of the Amway Grand tower. The McKay Tower was also the tallest office building in Grand Rapids until

Bridgewater Place Bridgewater Place, nicknamed The Dalek, is an office and residential skyscraper in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was the tallest building in Yorkshire at the time of being topped out in September 2005, but is now the second-tallest after ...

was completed in 1993.

21st century

In 2000, the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, which acquired the building from McKay's will, sold the tower. The building was sold to Greystone Associates later that year. Mark Roller, an internet businessman, purchased the tower in 2006 for $7.8 million, who later listed the property for sale in 2009 for $11 million. McKay Tower was sold to Jonathan L. Borisch, founder of Borisch Manufacturing Corp. (now

Amphenol Amphenol Corporation is a major producer of electronic and fiber optic connectors, cable and interconnect systems such as coaxial cables. Amphenol is a portmanteau from the corporation's original name, American Phenolic Corp. History Amphenol ...

Borisch) in May 2012 for $10.5 million through his Steadfast Property Holdings company. In January 2020, the

Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan The Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan is a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people in Michigan named for a 19th-century Ojibwe chief. They were formerly known as the Gun Lake Band of Grand River Ottawa Indi ...

and the Huron Band of the Potawatomi purchased McKay Tower for $17.5 million from Steadfast Property Holdings.

Architecture

McKay Tower is a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

structure. The tower currently has a three-story penthouse and a metal dome.

Gallery

File:Looking East from Monroe.jpg, Site of McKay Tower in 1874. File:Wonderly Building, Grand Rapids.jpg, The Wonderly Building in 1912. File:Mckay Tower Campau Square.jpg, McKay Tower site circa 1915. File:McKay Tower construction.jpg, Construction of McKay Tower in the early 1920s.

References

{{Grand Rapids, Michigan Skyscrapers in Grand Rapids, Michigan Skyscraper office buildings in Michigan Office buildings completed in 1927 1927 establishments in Michigan