In the 1930s and early 1940s enameled-steel facades became popular. Locally the Staeblers led the way in 1933, tearing down the Bach mansion and replacing it with an ultramodern enameled station designed by local architect Douglas “Pete” Loree, who also helped design the bus depot. The same year the Staeblers put up a duplicate at the corner of State Street and Jefferson (before the construction of the U-M’s LS&A Building, Jefferson went through to State).
Shortly after opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Mayor Walter Sadler on September 5, 1940, the Ann Arbor Bus Depot was featured in an book entitled Modern Bus Terminals and Post Houses. New bus terminals, the authors noted, were being designed not only to meet new demands by travelers but also in a modern and more aesthetically pleasing style. Designed by the architecture firm of Banfield and Cumming of Cleveland, Ohio (which also designed similar bus depots in Kalamazoo and Windsor, Ontario), in association with Ann Arbor architect Douglas Loree, the Ann Arbor Depot was one of a small number of new bus stations designed in the streamlined Art Deco style popular in the 1930s and 40s.
