Gregory Building

By the late 1870s, Ann Arbor was a thriving and prosperous business center. The streets facing Courthouse Square contained some of the town's grandest commercial buildings. Originally, the northwest corner of Main and Huron was the site of a small, two-story, log block house built by town founder John Allen in 1824. Later expanded and painted bright red, Allen's former home was called "Bloody Corners." It housed a tavern, inn, and store before being replaced by Ann Arbor's first large hotel, the "Franklin House."

The imposing Gregory Block was built on this site in 1862. For over a century it profided space for a wide variety of establishments, including a hotel, banks. bars. bookstores, a post office, and Municipal Court offices. It became known as the Masonic Block, when Masonic lodges occupied the second and third floors from 1885 to 1926.

By the time of its destruction in a 1971 fire, the Gregory Block's rich architectural details had been hidden under a facade of blue and white metal panels. The present building was constructed in 1986.

THE GLAZIER BUILDING STILL STANDS ACROSS MAIN STREET TO YOUR LEFT. IT WAS BUILT BY CHELSEA STOVE MANUFACTURER AND STATE TREASURER FRANK P. GLAZIER TO HOUSE HIS NEWSPAPER AND OFFICES. A SYMBOL OF HIS WEALTH, AMBITION, AND INFLUENCE, IT BECAME INSTEAD A REMINDER OF PERSONAL FAILURE. BANKRUPTCY--FOLLOWED BY A PRISON TERM FOR EMBEZZLEMENT--FORCED HIM TO RESIGN AS STATE TREASURER BEFORE THE BUILDING WAS COMPLETED IN ??
EXCEPT FOR THE LOSS OF THE ELABORATE PRESSED-METAL CORNICE, THE EXTERIOR OF WHAT WAS ONCE ANN ARBOR'S TALLEST BUILDING HAS CHANGED LITTLE FROM THE TIME OF ITS CONSTRUCTION.
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