Critical Detroit

Detroit’s Olympic Bids

Steve — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:09:11 +0000

Did you know that Detroit has submitted multiple bids to host the Summer Olympics? They’ve actually submitted 7 bids in all. They bid in 1944 (which was canceled due to the war) and then again in every year from 1952 thru 1972. Many consider their bid for the 1968 Olympics their best chance at landing the [...]

Vintage Advertising

Steve — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:39:55 +0000

I had a great time looking through old exhibit catalogs from the Detroit Architectural Club and the Thumb Tack Club of Detroit. I never put much thought into what went into publishing these books, but quickly realized that advertising was just as prevalent in the early 1900’s as it is today. Each book had a few [...]

Timeline Working Now – For Everyone

Steve — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:53:08 +0000

Oops. Apparently an errant comma was preventing the Timeline page from displaying correctly (or even displaying at all) in Internet Explorer, which over half of our visitors are using. Everything is working now.

Early Detroit Architecture Clubs

Steve — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:43:32 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was confirming some dates for the Guardian building and ran across the following text: (Excerpt from The Guardian Building: Cathedral of Finance By James W. Tottis) I’ve never run across this name or organization before so I did some digging and discovered some very interesting things. The Thumb Tack Club of Detroit [...]

Guardian Building Update

Steve — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:37:28 +0000

This morning, the Wayne County Commission voted 8-7 to tentatively approve the new bond amount which will keep the renovation effort moving forward. For those keeping track, Wayne County bought the building for $14 million and allocated $13 million for renovation. Earlier this week, county officials asked for another $30 million, bringing the total project costs [...]

Detroit Icons in Danger

Steve — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:13:32 +0000

Two extremely iconic buildings in Detroit are potentially a step closer to joining the recently publicized list of vacant Detroit buildings. The Guardian Building and the Penobscot Building are both located in the heart of the central business district and would emotionally devastate the Detroit (or at least me) if they become vacant. Both towers were [...]

A New Building for Detroits Pension Funds?

Steve — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:27:39 +0000

Believe it or not Detroit’s pension funds want to build a new $7.4M headquarters building on the riverfront and relocate from the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. The proposed three-story headquarters, located between the UAW’s headquarters and the River Towers Apartments, would house the pension funds’ administrative, accounting and legal operations, with room for 100 parking [...]

48 Vacant Buildings in the Detroit CBD

Steve — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:55:15 +0000

Louis Aguilar at the Detroit News has assembled an unofficial list of vacant buildings in Detroit’s central business district. The list is not all inclusive, but based on the building having no signs of life (No tenants!), be 5 stories or taller, and contain 10,000 square feet or more. The last two criteria are the threshold [...]

Lafayette Coming Down Soon

Steve — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:23:18 +0000

The Freep is reporting that fences have gone up around the building and that demolition is imminent. Designed by architect C. Howard Crane, who is better known for his designs of the Fox Theatre and other entertainment venues, the Lafayette Building occupied a wedge-shaped block between Michigan Avenue and Lafayette Boulevard. The site gave the building [...]

8 Ways to Experience Detroit Architecture

Steve — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:05:54 +0000

So you’d like to see some of Detroit’s architecture? No problem. There are lots of groups that offer architecture tours in and around Metro Detroit. I’ll try to highlight a few of them to get you started on planning your trip. Before that, here’s a few things to keep in mind: Most tours are offered in non-winter [...]