JACKSON MI
   

 

 

I'm intrigued by the 20s tower in the back. What imaginative name might it have?

It's the Jackson County Tower Building. It was snakebit:

The County Tower Building is an Albert Kahn designed 17 story bank building, constructed in 1929 for the Union and Peoples National Bank. With the onset of the Great Depression, the Union and Peoples National Bank never opened for business. In 1933, the National Bank of Jackson was organized as the successor to the Union and Peoples and opened for business, but never took ownership of the building.

Eventually the government took it over, rolled up their sleeves and Got - to - WORK:

 . . . the barrel vaulted ceiling was covered up with a dropped ceiling system, and the chandelier and school house lighting were discarded. The teller lines and marble balustrade surrounding the staircase were demolished. The marble floor was covered over in vinyl tile and then carpet placed on top of the vinyl. The huge room was sectioned off into offices using vinyl faced wall board, with the northern half being turned into the County Commission Chamber. Many of the stained glass windows had broken panes and deteriorated cement between the panes allowing wind to pass through the windows. The first floor lobby ceiling was painted over with white paint and the unique lighting fixtures removed, being replaced by fluorescent fixtures. A dropped ceiling was installed in the board room and the chandelier was discarded. The floors above the bank had hallways lined with rose colored marble with terrazzo floors. Many of these floors were “modernized” and opened up by removing the halls and walls.