By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Roni Devlin is a go-getter. She's an infectious disease physician with Spectrum Health. She's writing a book on the biography of influenza. And she just renovated an 85-year-old former bank building into her home and the place of business for her new venture, Literary Life Bookstore & More.
The former Old Kent Bank at 758 Wealthy caught Dr. Devlin's eye when she did her medical residency in Grand Rapids. Devlin, 39, then moved east to complete her infectious disease training at Dartmouth. As she prepared to return to Grand Rapids to join a practice, she looked in the classifieds for a house and found the bank instead.
"I recognized it immediately and looked into it to see if I could turn it into something that could work for me," Devlin says. "The building is just a really neat space architecturally."
Devlin revamped the two-level rear section of the building into an apartment. The two bank vaults are now her kitchen and her office. Then for two years while she lived there, she worked on the bookstore, investing some $350,000 in the renovations.
The original palladium windows that extend to the 15-foot-high tin ceiling were cleaned and resealed, and the so was the original gray and black mosaic tile floor. Devlin kept the original foyer doors, and added schoolhouse globe light fixtures and a fireplace with seating.
The store opened October 2. A special celebration will be on October 25 from 5 PM to 8 PM; other stores on the block will also be open late.
Bazzani Associates handled the design and construction.
Source: Roni Devlin, Literary Life Bookstore & More
Photograph by Brian Kelly
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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