Detroit intrigues and baffles me unlike any other American city. Its woes are well-documented and I'm far from an expert (and as of last week I have only been there once), but getting to actually visit the Motor City is just... powerful. Her downtown still has a veneer of grandeur, but it's incredibly sad to see how much has just been left to rot. But I'm not here to speak bad about the city as countless others have. I really do wish the city the best as it navigates through bankruptcy and hopefully emerges stronger because of it. I only had a couple of hours to explore downtown, unfortunately, but I definitely want to get back soon to see even more. On to the pictures!

 

I've walked less than a block from my car and already my jaw is on the floor. The sheer quality of downtown's building stock is unbelievable.

 

 

I don't know any other city outside of perhaps LA that has such high-quality and high-quantity Art Deco.

 

With names like Campus Martius, it's clear that Detroit was striving to be America's industrial empire.

 

I adore the Cadillac Tower.

 

 

The Wayne County Building, which is surprisingly (unsurprisingly?) empty. I can't believe that such incredible spaces are just completely empty. But then again, OTR was left for dead too...

 

 

The RenCen looks good on its own, but I think that from most angles it ruins the skyline of the city.

 

I'm not impressed with Dtown's skyline from this angle at all. But from most other angles, it's spectacular. Especially looking south, or east from Midtown.

 

 

I don't know why, but I hadn't expected Windsor to have such a sizable collection of skyscrapers.

 

 

I highly doubt that fixing up Hart Plaza is high on Detroit's list, but it clearly hasn't been touched in decades. Which pretty much sums up everything owned by the city- every cop car we saw had peeling paint and a really old "Detroit Police" logo on them. But like I said, cosmetic concerns are not exactly priority here.

 

 

I wanna say that the guy who had designed the World Trade Center did this building, but I'm not sure.

 

 

 

The Spirit of Detroit

 

I'm about to go a bit crazy with pictures of the Guardian Building.

 

This might be my favorite interior. Even more than the Arcade.

 

 

The elevator bank.

 

Stuff like this can't and won't be built any more. And it's a crying shame. Why people settle for suburban crap is beyond me.

 

Spectacular.

 

Looks like a Tiffany window, but I could be wrong.

 

I've been told this is all Rookwood tile.

 

 

 

 

The gate that separates the lobby from the main (former) banking hall.

 

 

I actually gasped when I saw this room. Completely spectacular.

 

 

 

From what I understand, most of Detroit's neighborhoods are pretty architecturally unremarkable. But if you only looked at Downtown, you'd never even guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sheer level of details is unbelievable.

 

 

There's still a Part 2 in the works, to come in the next couple of days. Stay tuned for some more incredible architecture and random musings and observations from my visit. Please feel free to chime in! I'd love to hear your thoughts/experiences with the city.

The unnverving thing is that as dense as the downtown looks from some of the photos (it reminds me of parts of Chicago) you would expect to see a lot of people on the streets, or at least some people. I know it was cold out, but it is amazing the dearth of people on the street even on a weekend day. It looks as if the place is frozen in time.

Thanks.

THank you for the awesome photos of the Guardian building, it's such an amazing gem.  I used to lead architectural tours of that building and I always learned something new on each tour.  The Penobscot is no joke either.  Detroit frustrates the hell out of me

It was essentially Philadelphia without the lifeblood of NYC and DC to re-ignite it.  It will return at some point, when is the question.  Hate to at it on this site, but it has a great collection of suburban communities that show there is still money around Wayne, Oakland and Washtenaw Counties.

I'm not terribly familiar with the city's geography, but are there neighborhoods outside of Downtown that aren't just blocks and blocks of tract housing built for factory workers? I've been under the impression that most of Detroit's outlying neighborhoods were lacking in the "built environment" department, and that "quality" local business districts like you'll find in other older cities are hard to come by. I'm sure they have them, but how would they compare to, say, Gordon Square in Cleveland or Ludlow Avenue in Cincinnati?

Detroit has several intact commercial districts that are still "good."  Vernor in Mexicantown is still a very vibrant commercial strip as is, strangely, the Avenue of Fashion along Livernois.  Old Redford isn't a bad district either but Detroit, of course, fell harder than all these other surrounding cities.  Detroit's main "neighborhood" commercial districts are in the suburbs (Hamtramck, Dearborn, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Rochester, etc). Indian Village, Boston-Edison, sections of Midtown, Palmer Park, Grand Boulevard in SW Detroit, Sherwood Forest, University Heights, etc all have good residential architecture, similar to some Cleveland neighborhoods or Roselawn/Paddock Hills in Cincinnati.  Detroit's "Gordon Square" would be Ferndale; they don't have an equivalent to Ludlow in the metro.

The unnverving thing is that as dense as the downtown looks from some of the photos (it reminds me of parts of Chicago) you would expect to see a lot of people on the streets, or at least some people. I know it was cold out, but it is amazing the dearth of people on the street even on a weekend day. It looks as if the place is frozen in time.

 

The craziest thing was that this was the same day as the St. Patrick's Day marathon. There were a few stragglers in green running garb, but by and large downtown was empty. I was shocked at the lack of people hanging out after the run.

The unnverving thing is that as dense as the downtown looks from some of the photos (it reminds me of parts of Chicago) you would expect to see a lot of people on the streets, or at least some people. I know it was cold out, but it is amazing the dearth of people on the street even on a weekend day. It looks as if the place is frozen in time.

 

The craziest thing was that this was the same day as the St. Patrick's Day marathon. There were a few stragglers in green running garb, but by and large downtown was empty. I was shocked at the lack of people hanging out after the run.

 

Actually, that was the Corktown 5k which precedes the Corktown Parade. And that's where everyone would've been hanging out after the race. Judging by these pics, you never made it to that neighborhood. Not that downtown would be bustling on a weekend afternoon but the St. Patricks Day events are on the fringe of downtown, not in the heart of it. While St. Paddys isn't a huge deal in Detroit (I'd argue Paczki Day holds more relevance!) it does draw a pretty good sized crowd every year.

And a couple notes on the buildings you photographed. The State Savings Bank Bldg. which is seen in your 2nd and 3rd pictures was on the verge of being torn down for parking last year. The Historic Commission wisely denied that. It's been vacant for about 5 years which isn't that long compared to many buildings. The owners of the Pontiac Silverdome own this property.

 

The Old Wayne County Building was vacated in 2009 when county offices were moved into the Guardian. It's currently tied up in legal limbo so the owners can't put it on the market. It's a complicated case but supposedly it will be up for development opportunities shortly.

I can't get enough of these Detroit pics!  So much downtown awesomeness.  It's a lot of fund to follow on Curbed. One of these days I'll make it up there and actually see it in person.

i dont think outsiders understand there is still plenty of detroit left in downtown detroit. they will soon enough.

It was essentially Philadelphia without the lifeblood of NYC and DC to re-ignite it.  It will return at some point, when is the question.  Hate to at it on this site, but it has a great collection of suburban communities that show there is still money around Wayne, Oakland and Washtenaw Counties.

 

Good points.  I love the standard Cleveland.com type attitudes that pervade about Detroit, like it's a ghost town or something.  While downtown and the city proper have suffered, it's still a top 10 TV market in the US, with plenty of buying power.