Lawrence Tech to help bring Lincoln Park's Mellus Building back to life

Lincoln Park's Mellus Newspapers Building is about to take one more step toward restoration.

An architectural graduate class at Lawrence Technological University's College of Architecture & Design will use the historic structure for an adaptive reuse class next semester. The students will create a feasibility study for the building that the Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance will then use to advocate for its renovation.

The alliance has been the main proponent behind saving what is now a vacant structure at 1661 Fort St. in downtown Lincoln Park. The 1940s building originally housed the local community newspaper the Lincoln Parker. It's named after William S. Mellus who owned a number of community newspapers in the Downriver area.

The front of the single-story building is wrapped in porcelain enamel, giving it is a mid-20th Century feel. It earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The alliance is working to preserve the building, collecting in-kind and monetary donations so it can acquire and restore it. One of the ideas being floated for the building is to turn it into a retail incubator for businesses like a coffee house, art gallery and or deli.

Another adjacent structure, Pollak Building, is often lumped together with the The Mellus Newspapers Building. It originally housed Pollak Jewelers before becoming part of the newspapers offices. It's also a typical mid-20th Century retail building with a terrazzo entrance sidewalk.

Source: Leslie Lynch-Wilson, president of the Lincoln Park Preservation Alliance
Writer: Jon Zemke

Lawrence Tech to help bring Lincoln Park's Mellus Building back to life

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