Mc Clelland Street had always been a quiet, peaceful street. That was until the death of Mr. Lucas. Roger Lucas to be exact. Mr. Lucas was my neighbor and President of Land & Co, a Grandville, Michigan based land development company. The company has a controversial past. It was eventually found that Land & Co had illegally funded his wife’s sister, Terry Lynn Land’s run for senator. That however is not the only controversy stemming from this company. The most recent of which has to do with an apartment building the company built in Grandville not too far from Grand Rapids.
The apartment building in question is a 198 foot tall, Neuschwanstein inspired castle. The Grand Castle Apartments can be found within walking distance of the Grand River and lies west of Grand Rapids, next to interstate 196. Surprisingly, the Castle is the second largest in the world. So big in fact that construction was halted because of safety concerns resulting from the structure sinking far faster than engineered. The sinking issue would only add to the negative publicity generated from the castle’s polarizing design.
The death of Mr. Lucas brought forth within me a newfound admiration for his greatest “physical achievement” according to an interview with his daughter published on MLive. His daughter, Jenny, refers to her father as “creative and intelligent”. She further stated her father “overcame every single challenge that crossed his path”. I think it is fair to say that building the world’s second largest castle despite sizable opposition is a lot to overcome. Yet still, he persevered; he built his passion project. He followed through with his dreams and brought a little architectural diversity to a place that probably needed it.
Though I’m not personally a fan of the Grand Castle, I will forever view the large, gray structure with a great deal of admiration. For someone as impactful as Roger, his death didn’t bring as much news as his castle. As his obituary said and I quote, “To some, he’s just a guy who built a castle. To others, he may be no one at all”. Personally, I will remember him as the guy who dared to think different, to achieve his dreams, and overcame his struggles. Perhaps we all should be the kind of person to build a castle in a sea of modernist skyscrapers and uninspired McMansions.