Tag Archives: Meyer May House

WKTV to air Heritage Hill special just in time for neighborhood’s annual home tour

May 12, 20173-bottom, WKTV ProjectsFrank Lloyd Wright, Grand Homes of Heritage Hill, Heritage Hill, home tour, Meyer May House, Thomas HegewaldJoanne

The Meyer May House is one of the homes feature in the “Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” series.

One of the area’s most popular home tours returns this month, the Heritage Hill 2017 Weekend Tour of Homes, and to help whet your appetite, WKTV will once again be airing “The Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” which includes a peek inside a home currently closed to the public.

“Grand Homes of Heritage Hill,” produced by WKTV volunteer Thomas Hegewald, kicks off Monday, May 15, with a 9 a.m. airtime for The Connors House, which is a privately owned home. On Thursdays, May 16, at 6 p.m., the next installment will feature The Meyer May House, which was restored and owned by Steelcase. Last the installment will feature The Voigt House, which is owned by the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Tours through the house were discontinued in 2009, making Hegewald’s show the only way for the general public to view the home. This show, which Hegewald received a 2007 Telly Award and a 2007 Festival of the Arts film award, will be aired Friday, May 19, at noon, the day before the Heritage Hill tour starts.

The Heritage Hill 2017 Weekend Tour of Homes is May 20 and 21 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 22 from noon to 6 p.m. Advance tickets are $18 and available through www.heritagehillweb.org or the Heritage Hill Association office, 126 College Ave. SE.; Martha’s Vineyard, 200 Union Ave. NE; Art of the Table, 606 Wealth St. SE; D&W, Family Fare, Forest Hills Foods and Lake Michigan Credit Union locations.

“The Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” episode feature The Voigt House won a Telly Award.

Tickets on the weekend of the tour are $25 and available only at GRCC DeVos campus, 435 E. Fulton.

On the ticket, there is a map of all the homes. You can see the houses in any order and on either or both days. Walk, bike or take the free shuttle buses that stop at each house on the tour. You can get on and off the bus at each house. If you are interested in getting a free ticket, volunteer. For more information to do that, email heritage@heritagehillweb.org or call 616-459-8950.

Houses for this year’s tour are: the 1874 the Italinate-style home at 71 LaFayette NE; the Amber House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé Marion Mahoney at 505 College SE; the 1886 Queen Anne-style home at 521 Madison SE; the Victorian Gothic cottage at 264 Paris SE; the Stick Style home at 417 Crescent NE; the Craftsman Style home at 544 College SE; the 1903 Widdicomb furniture family home at 422 Fountain NE; Oakwood Manor at 547 Cherry SE; the Calkins Law Office at 237 State St. SE; Child Discover Center at 409 LaFayette SE; and the Women’s City Club at 254 E. Fulton St.

WKTV celebrates Heritage Hill Home Tour with a rebroadcast of popular film series

May 12, 20163-bottom, Entertainment, Local History, Our Cities, Upcoming Events, WKTV ProjectsGrand Homes of Heritage Hill, Heritage Hill, Meyer May House, The Voigt House, Thomas Hegewald, Tour of HomesJoanne

Exterior shot of the Meyer May House from the home's porch. — Exterior shot of the Meyer May House from the home’s porch.

The annual Heritage Hill Tour of Homes is set to kick off in a couple of weeks and to whet your appetite WKTV will rebroadcast the award-winning “Grand Homes of Heritage Hill.”

“Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” will air Wednesday, May 18, at noon featuring the 2007 Telly Award winning episode “The Voigt House.” Friday, May 20, at 11:30 a.m., all three episodes will air, “The Voigt House,” “The Meyer May House,” and “Connors House.” Hegewald also received a Festival of the Arts film award in the documentary category in 2007 for his work on the series.

“The homes of Heritage Hill have fascinated me all of my life – from their varied architectural styles to their unabashed grandeur,” said Thomas Hegewald in an 2014 WKTV article about the series. Hegewald is the producer, videographer, and writer behind the series. “On every occasion that I have driven through this area, I have gawked at the homes and picked my favorites. I had been volunteering at WKTV for a few months when Tom Norton, the station manager, suggested that I produce a series on these homes. It seemed like an ideal match.”

In 2009, the Grand Rapids Public Museum discontinued the public hours for the Voigt House, making Hegewald’s video the about the only way to peek inside the 19th century home. Built in 1895-96 for the prominent merchant and businessman Carl Voigt, the Voigt family lived in the house continually for nearly 76 years until Voigt’s youngest son, Ralph, died in 1971. In 1974, the Kent County Council for Historic Preservation purchased the home and donated the structure to the City of Grand Rapids. One of the most noted features of the facility is that since it was a one-owner house, the first floor was redecorated in 1907 and never update again with the original silk wall coverings and carpeting remaining.

Hegewald said he selected the Voigt House and the Meyer May House because they both showcased how the original owners had once lived. “The Voigt house featured not only the original furnishings, but the décor as well,” he said. “The only restoration came in replacing an item, and only when completely necessary. Since there had been an addition to the Meyer May House, followed years later by it being broken up into apartments, a complete restoration had to take place to bring it back to its original state.”

Even the details of the Meyer May House were well planned.

The Meyer May House originally was built for a Grand Rapids clothier and purchased and restored in 1987 by Steelcase. The home was opened to the public in 1987 and provides the opportunity to se a Prairie house exactly as Frank Lloyd Wright intended. Along with being part of this year’s Heritage Hill Home Tour, the Meyer May House is open to the public Sundays from 1 – 4 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursday from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The third home in the series is the Connors House, which is privately owned. While the home was owned by one family, it needed to be brought up to code for electrical and plumbing. “With extensive renovations underway, much thought was also put into the décor of the home to reflect its past, but with a contemporary feel as well,” Hegewald said.

“In the end, I came away with an appreciation for this area in our city – from the original owners who built the homes to those who fought to save them from destruction during the days of urban renewal,” he said. “I also applaud the efforts of the homeowners today who strive to keep up with the amount of work it must take to keep these homes in good repair.”

A greater appreciation of these historic homes and the district they are in is one of the reasons Heritage Hill started its annual Tour of Homes 47 years ago. This year’s tour, which is Saturday, May 21, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 22, from noon – 6 p.m., features six restored private houses, three historic buildings and two recent additions that demonstrate how new construction can fit into the fabric of a historic district. The tour includes the 1886 Queen Anne-style home built for the Davis family of Stow & Davis Furniture Co.; a 1916 Georgian Manor, a 1906 American foursquare and a 1912 Tudor Revival.

Advance tickets for the tour are $15 and available at the Heritage Hill Association Office, 126 College SE or at www.heritagehillweb.org. Tickets the weekend of the tour are $20. All proceeds go to the Heritage Hill Association and the organization’s historic preservation efforts. A free shuttle bus for the tour is provided between featured properties. For more information on the tour, call 616-459-8950.

Producing a series on the homes of Heritage Hill

May 27, 2014Local Entertainment, WKTV ProjectsHeritage Hill homes, Meyer May HouseJoanne

WKTV Community Media Center offers everyone an opportunity to create videos, tell stories, and explore a topic that interests them. The following was written by volunteer producer, editor, videographer, and writer Thomas Hegewald. He has always been interested in the homes of Heritage Hill in Downtown Grand Rapids and shares his insights:

The homes of Heritage Hill have fascinated me all of my life – from their varied architectural styles to their unabashed grandeur. On every occasion that I have driven through this area, I have gawked at the homes and picked my favorites. I had been volunteering at WKTV for a few months when Tom Norton, the Station Manager, suggested that I produce a series on these homes. It seemed like an ideal match.

For the first two homes I selected the ones that were opened to the public – the Voigt House and the Meyer May House. Both of these homes showcased how the original owners had once lived. The Voigt house featured not only the original furnishings, but the décor as well. The only restoration came in replacing an item, and only when completely necessary. Since there had been an addition to the Meyer May house, followed years later by it being broken up into apartments, a complete restoration had to take place to bring it back to its original state.

The third home in my series (the Connors House) was privately owned. I went through it during the annual tour of Heritage Hill homes. One of the reasons the owners had purchased this house was because it had remained a single-family dwelling and had been owned by one family for nearly its entire life. But, the home needed to be brought up to code with electrical and plumbing. With extensive renovations underway, much thought was also put into the décor of the home to reflect its past, but with a contemporary feel as well.

The Connors House is a Heritage Hill standout

Producing the series, Grand Homes of Heritage Hill, was a huge undertaking. I did most of the work myself, from coordinating and taping interviews to scheduling and shooting each room in each house. I even spent a couple of Saturday afternoons lugging a bulky tripod in one hand and a heavy camera in the other, walking up and down streets in Heritage Hill shooting a variety of exteriors which I used in the opening sequence for the show.

Once I had the footage shot for one house, I pored over it, developing a storyline based on the interviews. I then crafted the finished piece together during the editing process. Creating a cohesive and compelling story about each home was a long process. On average, each show took nine months from start to completion. It took so long because I was doing it all in my spare time.

The deadline for each new show was annual tour of Heritage Hill. Each time I completed a new show, WKTV would air it, along with the others in the weeks leading up to the tour.
In the end, I came away with an appreciation for this area in our city – from the original owners who built the homes to those who fought to save them from destruction during the days of urban renewal. I also applaud the efforts of the homeowners today who strive to keep up with the amount of work it must take to keep these homes in good repair. And, I still wonder about the many intriguing stories that are contained in each of these grand homes.