Old Consumers Gas building gets new life in downtown Royal Oak

The breath of life is blowing into historic structures throughout Royal Oak. The latest to receive a lung-full of fresh funding is the old home for Consumers Gas in downtown.

The 1920s-era building at the corner of Third and Williams streets, one block east of Main Street, is the new home for Wold Architects and Engineers. The firm that specializes in designing schools renovated the second floor late last year and plans to finish off the building this year.

“It’s really an incredible transformation,” says Jim Schneider, president of Royal Oak-based Schneider+Smith Architects, which is helping design the project. “There was just a horrible façade on there. In the 1960s they put on one of those God-awful facades on it.”

That’s gone now and the original brick façade is exposed again. Wold expects to begin restoring the exterior to its original appearance next week and wrap up the project within two months. It also plans to renovate the ground floor of the 12,000-square-foot structure so it can be used by a restaurant, hopefully later this year.

Schneider+Smith Architects has also done design work for the renovations of the Luke and Tribune buildings in downtown Royal Oak. They have also designed a number of restaurants in the city’s central business district, such as Pronto!, Woody’s and the Comet Burger.

Source: Jim Schneider, president of Schneider+Smith Architects
Writer: Jon Zemke