The Auto Owners Insurance Company Home Office Building was designed by Kenneth C. Black Associates, Inc. in 1951. It was the first of four major post-war buildings in Lansing to be designed by the firm.
“The 4-story (plus garden level) limestone-clad building, with a projecting, blocky “tower” that rises one more story facing the Kalamazoo/Townsend intersection, stands back from the sidewalk behind landscaped planting areas and a depressed garden area (along the east side) that are fronted by random ashlar retaining walls. The building is faced in limestone except for the 1st floor tower base area, where reddish-brown granite outlines the former main entry (facing Kalamazoo) and a broad window area extending around the corner facing Townsend. A flat-roof canopy projects outward from the building’s corner above the 1st floor, sheltering the former main entry and tower base windows. Broad windows separated by narrow fluted uprights extend across the street-facing facades.”
“Although the building’s exterior remains virtually unaltered, the interior was entirely gutted and rebuilt shortly after the adjoining Veterans Memorial Courthouse was completed.”
The Auto Owners Insurance Company Home Office Building, now known as Veterans Memorial Courthouse, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 22, 2009, as part of the Lansing Downtown Historic District.
“History,” Auto Owners Insurance, accessed March 29, 2011.
Kenneth C. Black Associates, Inc. Kenneth C. Black Associates Inc.: Architects and Engineers (Lansing, MI: Kenneth C. Black Associates, Inc., 1970).
Michigan State Historic Preservation Office. Lansing Downtown Historic District National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. By R. O. Christensen. Lansing, 2010.
