Saturday, May 10, 2014

First Unitarian Church Destroyed by Fire

First Unitarian Church on Woodward in Midtown was originally built in 1890,  and partially redesigned for the widening of Woodward in the mid-1930s. Passing hands through multiple denominations after the Unitarians left it for a new home on Cass in the late 1930s, its sanctuary remained largely in-tact until it was hit by several fires in the 2000s.  It has been abandoned for some time and on the morning of  May 10, 2014 it was completely destroyed by a fire.








Thursday, May 08, 2014

Pewabic Pottery


The Pewabic Pottery Company was founded in 1904 by Mary Chase Perry, one of the leaders of the city's turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts movement.Three years later, she attained a beautiful building on Jefferson Avenue to house the new company, designed by her good friend who would later become her husband, architect William B Stratton. The cozy look both inside and out provided the right atmosphere for a small-scale handicraft industry. The building today is a National Historic Landmark. A countless number of the city's most prestigious homes and buildings include Pewabic tiles, among them the Guardian Building and the Detroit Institute of Arts.



Thursday, March 27, 2014

The Griswold 3.0

The Roxbury Group is finally moving ahead with plans it first developed in 2007 to build housing above a city owned parking garage constructed for the renovated Book Cadillac Hotel.

The Detroit Commerce Building was demolished in 2007 to make way for a garage/condo development on the site. However, due to the economic crisis that year, only the garage was built.

The project has undergone some changes over that time. Now, Instead of condos, $22 million will be spent constructing 80 apartments in a less aesthetically pleasing style.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Heidelberg Project Minus Nine

The Party Animal house was the ninth Heidelberg Project home to be set ablaze over the past 11 months when it burned to the ground on the morning of March 7.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

James Scott Mansion up for Condo Conversion

According to MLive work could begin this summer on a $7 million rehab of the 137 year old James Scott Mansion on Peterboro.  Developer Joel Landry has secured $2.6 million in state historic and brownfield redevelopment tax credits to turn the Richardsonian Romanesque home into 25 condos.

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Cass Corridor Construction

The Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corp has started rehabilitating two long neglected buildings in Detroit's Cass Corridor.

The corner of Cass and MLK will see $17 million dedicated to the transformation of the Cass Plaza (Naomi Apartments 1924) and the Davenport Apartments (1905) into 47 affordable-income units. These two buildings, along with the Aderna Court Apartments and the Chesterfield Apartments make up the Cass-Davenport Historic District.

Cass Plaza

Cass Plaza

The Davenport Apartments stand in the shadow of Cass Plaza


Monday, December 30, 2013

Parking Wars II: Apostolopoulos Strikes Back

Andreas Apostolopoulos didn't his way with the Detroit Historic District Commission when he wanted to tear down the State Bank Building to build a parking garage for the Penobscot building, so he is taking it out on a terracotta building across from the Book Cadillac.


Curbed Detroit

Sunday, December 01, 2013

Bates Garage Demolition

The Bates Garage located at the corner of Monroe and Randolph was demolished in October. Here is a look at its final days.