Eye sore of the week

Posted

Property: 1325 W. Lenawee St., Lansing

Owner: Michael Vanderlip

Assessed Value: $16,500

Owner says: Could not be reached for comment

Architecture critic Amanda Harrell-Seyburn says: Architectural character is most often the result of practical responses to social and environmental aspects, as well as the available materials, of a given place. What is acceptable in one place can be disagreeable in another. Perhaps this house would fit in if you moved it 1,400 miles to Newfoundland, Canada, where a front door without stairs is commonplace. On traditional gable and saltbox style houses, front doors can rise, three feet to 15 feet aboveground without stairs. Such entrances are slyly referred to as the mother-in-law door. 

This home is a sharp contrast to the pair of refurbished Ingham County Land Bank houses next door. What appears from an outline to have been a porch has been ripped clean off this house near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and I-496. The entryway steps lead to nowhere because of the missing porch, which is accented by exposed wiring and a heating duct hole that makes a perfect cat-sized entrance. In an old neighborhood with well-maintained homes on all sides of it, this house should follow the front porch’s lead and get out of the neighborhood. 


“Eyesore of the Week” is our look at some of the seedier properties in Lansing. It rotates each week with Eye Candy of the Week. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail eye@lansingcitypulse.com or call Andy Balaskovitz at 999-5064.

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