WATERWORKS MURAL by FRANK CASSARA

Today was 'Be a Tourist in Your Own Town' in Lansing, Michigan, and the Water Conditioning Plant was one of the sites available to see. Built in 1939, it is an art deco treasure, and hasn't been open to the public since 2001, so we decided to go there.

The Plant is the home of two huge murals by Frank Cassara depicting the destructive force of water (today's blip) and the beneficial forces of water. Look here for his mural of the beneficial forces.

A third mural showing the industrial uses of water was done by Charles Pollock. Here is a picture of the Pollock mural.

Frank Cassara was 25 when he painted his two murals. As they deteriorated over the years, repair work was commissioned twice. However, in 1989 someone discovered that Cassara was still living - in Ann Arbor, MI - and at 75 years of age he returned to Lansing to clean, repair and restore his own murals - a job that took nearly a year.

The plant conditions up to 40 million gallons of water per day in several enormous pools of water in various stages of purification. It is a simple structure but has elegant art deco details in the light fixtures, railings, etc. The control consoles replicate the grill of a 1937 Oldsmobile Touring Sedan and the control hands are made from Oldsmobile door handles of the same era.

I will save posting a photo of the art deco entry doorway to this interesting waterworks building for some time in the winter when I'll be searching for blip subjects!