The collection contains photographs of the exteriors and occasionally interiors of 44 buildings or sets of buildings removed for the construction of US-131 and I-196 expressways. The buildings photographed were mostly located on the West Side of the Grand River in the area bounded by Mt. Vernon, Turner and Scribner Ave. (removed for US-131), but there are photos of several other buildings on either side of the river (removed for I-196).

The photographs depict the buildings abandoned or nearly abandoned, shortly before they were razed. Many buildings already leveled can be seen in the background of some of the photographs. The collection is arranged geographically by address and alphabetically by street name.