I have a ton of photos from Detroit's abandoned Central Station.  I used to pay frequent visits to this place with a few others, but haven't been back since 2006 since I've been really busy.  I figured post some photos I took back in summer of 2005.  Excuse some of the piss-poor photography.  I had a camera that was nearing the end of its lifespan.

 

 

 

 

I guess I'll start with the basement

 

 

Keep in mind, for the most part the basement receives no light.  I didn't have a flashlight when I took these and relied on the camera flash to see where I was going

 

This corridor seemed to go on forever.  After walking for what seemed like 200-250 yards, I gave up and turned around.  I know an extensive underground network of utility passages exists linking many of the surrounding buildings.

 

I don't think so

 

Again, not a clue how deep this room is:

 

Finally a stairway

 

This foyer-like area is near the restaurant and one of the waiting rooms. 

 

Small Waiting room

 

Restaurant

 

I can't believe they put a drop ceiling in during the 70's!

 

This giant hole was caused by vandals throwing bricks from the tower. 

 

Concourse doorway

 

Concourse

 

 

More to come soon!

 

Pretty good photography, I'd say!

 

Damn depressing. It was getting seedy when I caught a train there to Toledo in the early 80s, but at least it was intact and in use.

 

I tend to have some pretty Nazi views as to what ought to be done with the vermin who wreak wanton destruction on vacant properties for lack of anything to do. Not extermination, but work camps with zero-tolerance for screw-ups.

Did I tell how much I love you Hayward?

 

Great photos :) I plan on seeing this over winter. Not that Detroit doesn't have 10,000 other locales to visit either :(

Absolutely amazing!!! One of these days.. just one of these days I will check this place out and the city of Detroit..

Thanks for the comments.  It's definitely a building many want to visit, even people who are not interested in urban exploring are intrigued by this structure. 

 

Here's a bonus shot.  This is the attic above the grand vaulted waiting room.  You can see that the domes are actually not self supporting, but held up by large steel trusses.  This scale of these trusses is quite large.  Those gusset plates are nearly 5 feet high

 

I didn't actually discover this space until hearing about it from someone.  It's actually extremely difficult to get to.  Two storage rooms located on the mezzanine flank the grand waiting room behind the thermal windows.  The ladders have been removed, and people who have gotten up there before propped some shelving units against the walls to get up to the ceiling hatch.  The unfortunate thing is that the hatch is mounted to the steel grid work that supports the plaster ceiling of the storeroom.  The gridwork is magically held up by cables that have rusted to practically nothing.  I have no clue why, but that suspended plaster ceiling was capable of supporting all of our weight, probably 600 lbs total. 

 

However, that's not the challenging part.  As you can see, the domes appear to die off into the wall.  Actually there, is a narrow plenum space of darkness around the perimeter.  This means that if you fall, your sliding down the side of the dome and falling into the crevice of doom. 

 

 

To avoid this, some people arranged some boards that spans between the steel beams.  At certain points, you actually have to walk and hold onto the trusses to get over this gap.  It's kind of fun if you are not thinking about the consequences.  At the time I did this, I had no clue of the dangers, because the higher exposure allowed me to see what dangers actually existed when I was back at home looking at the pictures on my camera. hmmm.

 

 

 

Who owns the building?  Is it at all salvageable?

Currently Billionaire Matty Maroun owns the station.  He has plans for it, but I haven't seen anything move forward recently.  The building is still salvageable.  In fact studies have shown that a renovation is more practical than the extreme high costs of demolishing this beast.

 

Here's a few other facts:

 

- Back in the 90's the station had some prep work done on it for renovations.  This includes major asbestos abatements, which is why you see a lot of exposed pipes and ceilings

- A couple years ago, the city proposed a plan to turn the station into the new police headquarters.  Controversey arrose as to just how much it would cost to renovate the building.  Studies showed varying ranges between 90 - 300 million.  However, such a price tag is not inconsistent with projects such as the Book-Cadillac hotel which cost nearly $160 million.

- The current owner proposes a convention center or possibly a casino

- Other proposals include a trade processing center

- The building was featured in scenes for the movies "The Island" and "Transformers"  Another movie with a basketball theme was filmed there, but I haven't heard much about it.  During times of the filming, the floors were cleaned and excess debris was removed revealing the floor patterns prior to decay

 

 

hayward our hats are off to you....you are the king of urban spelunking.

 

fascinating.

 

kiss nailed it: "you gotta lose your mind in dee-troit rock city"

Such a sin to let a place fall into such disrepair.

That building is the Devil.  It almost killed me.  Twice.

Currently Billionaire Matty Maroun owns the station.  He has plans for it, but I haven't seen anything move forward recently.  The building is still salvageable.  In fact studies have shown that a renovation is more practical than the extreme high costs of demolishing this beast.

 

 

Just to add, its so expensive to demolish because of the absurdly sturdy construction. A traditional implosion wouldn't work due to just how sturdy the beast is. Anything would require a piece by piece approach.

That building is the Devil.  It almost killed me.  Twice.

 

I think your yelling scared away whatever spirits were there.

BANNED!

Oh... I forgot the alleged gang outside too.

I wonder what people from Europe, the Pacific Rim and other places where trains are an essential piece of the transportation picture think when they see pictures of MC Station? I can't see them coming to any other conclusion that we Americans are off in our own little world. Or just off our rockers...

I wonder what people from Europe, the Pacific Rim and other places where trains are an essential piece of the transportation picture think when they see pictures of MC Station? I can't see them coming to any other conclusion that we Americans are off in our own little world. Or just off our rockers...

 

Provincials! They just need to understand that we can't afford passenger rail. We have other priorities like spreading democracy,defending freedom and securing oil supplies to keep our gas prices low and our 5,000-pound SUVs running down the interstates at 80mph :whip:

^Kinda irrelevant but are we building houses in Iraq or are we projected to? (during the mortgage crisis..)

Great shots, but that is kind of a downer!!

She looked thinner than usual last week. Somebody PLEASE do something with this place, and save Tiger Stadium while you're at it.

"and save Tiger Stadium while you're at it."

 

 

For Real!!

I think MCS will be renovated eventually, but Tiger stadium has no chance.  I think plans are already moving forward to demolish most of the stadium and build high end condos.  They are keeping the oldest parts of the stadium and the field though.

How sad.  You'd think that was a scene from a German town just after WWII.  Hopefully something will be done to reclaim this building before the vandalism gets even worse....can it really get any worse??

 

By the way...is that a burned out Geo Metro to the left?

 

 

 

 

 

^or it could be the fabled suzuki sidekick

^Yes, it's a Sidekick, and yes, that's the last time I valet at O'Blivions.