Woodbridge N. Ferris Building
The Woodbridge N. Ferris Building is a former federal building, which now houses classrooms and offices for the Kendall College of Art and Design, located at 17 Pearl St. NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was formerly a U.S. District Court and Post Office. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
History
In 1906, Congress appropriated $500,000 to construct a new post office for Grand Rapids. In 1908, the supervising architect for the Treasury, James K. Taylor, created a design for the building, visiting Grand Rapids in April to determine a suitable material for the building's exterior. On February 12, 1909, Alice Roosevelt Longworth and her husband Nicholas Longworth III laid the building's cornerstone.The building was used by the U.S. Circuit Court until 1912, as well as the U.S. District Court and the post office. In the 1950s, Gerald R. Ford had his congressional offices in the building. In 1972, the post office and the court moved out into a new building. By 1981, the bottom levels of the building were converted to house the Grand Rapids Art Museum. That same year, the federal government turned the building over to the city of Grand Rapids. The art museum moved to a new building in 2007, and the former post office building sat vacant, although occasionally used for art shows. In 2010, Ferris State University leased the building from the city, and began redeveloping the building for use by the Kendall College of Art and Design. Redevelopment was completed in 2013, and the building was renamed after the founder of Ferris State, Woodbridge N. Ferris.