Keen observers might have wondered what that Second Empire building in the foreground of that historic photo of the Penobscot Building was. That tower and Mansard roof belonged to the former city hall of Detroit, ignominiously demolished against the wishes of a majority of citizens in 1961. Designed by James Anderson, it opened in 1871….
Tag: Michigan
St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, Detroit
St. Aloysius is another example of a “downtown” Roman Catholic parish, much like St. Peter’s which we just saw back in Chicago. And like St. Peter’s it received an updated building in the Twentieth Century. Like many churches in Europe, the composition addresses the cramped building site, crammed in between two other buildings, one of…
Down by the River, Detroit
Let’s walk from the Campus Martius, named after the famous field in ancient Rome where soldiers trained (it later filled up with temples such as the Pantheon), and part of the original Woodward plan of Detroit and walk down the street of the same name towards the Detroit River. It’s here that I spot some…
Book Tower and the Michigan Building, Detroit
I find the Book Tower, the creation of three brothers, one of the more humorous but enjoyable skyscrapers built at the height of Detroit’s golden age. It was actually the product of two building campaigns: the tower and the lower structure. You can see the Book Building, which is sort of the yellowish building to…
Guardian Building, Former Union Trust, Detroit
Near the southern terminus of Woodward Avenue is the Guardian Building, originally named the Union Trust Building. While Chicago certainly has its own collection of Art-Deco skyscrapers, Detroit blows it and other American cities away with its shear exuberance. The Guardian Building is a case in point. It is a slender building, recalling the Raymond…
The Penobscot Block, Detroit
Time to move to downtown Detroit, and start with one of the most interesting square blocks in the United States, the Penobscot Block. Like all good things, it was the result of the accretion of decades of history and multiple building campaigns by disparate developers. This first building of the ensemble is the 1905 Penobscot…
Former General Motors Headquarters and the Fisher Building, Detroit
While still only arrived in Detroit for a few hours and driving up Woodward Avenue, I spotted this gigantic massing of buildings off in the distance where the grand thoroughfare begins to rise up into the highlands. Basically, with the exception of the parking garage, the entire ensemble is the work of Albert Kahn. I…
Grosse Pointe, Park, Shores, Woods and Farms
Ah, Grosse Pointe! Where you can watch twelve-year-olds ride by on their bikes and listen to them swear like sailors! Grosse Pointe is actually a series of different suburbs, with the Grosse Pointe being one, and then a series of other independent communities an additional modifier such as Farms or Shores. There are multiple shopping…
Indian Village, Detroit
Cruising by Mr. Fish on my to Grosse Pointe on the East Vernon Highway, I stumbled onto a mirage, a neighborhood of perfectly preserved houses along several long blocks with stately trees known as Indian Village due to several, but not all, of its streets being named after Native American nations. Indian Village is pretty…
West Boston Boulevard, Detroit
I took in a bit of the Boston-Edison Historic District, traveling east down West Boston Boulevard just west of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Chicago Boulevard and some other streets compose the large neighborhood, where some of the most important figures in Detroit history, including automobile executives, lived. As would be expected, the…