Detroit in ruins

[dhermann1]

These pics speak for themselves. Astounding, appalling, heartbreaking.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/jan/02/photography-detroit

 

[W-D Forties]

There was an amazing article in todays Observer in the UK about a new book by two French photographers entitled Detroit In Ruins. They photographed many of Detroit's crumbling and abandoned buildings and the photographs have to be seen to be believed.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images...s/2010/12/29/1293646125657/detroitbig-001.jpg


They have also captured for posterity the desolate interiors that once made up the city's civic infrastructure: courthouses, churches, schools, dentists, police stations, jails, public libraries and swimming pools, all of which have most of their original fixtures and fittings intact. "As Europeans, we were looking with an outsider's eye, which made downtown Detroit seem even more strange and dramatic," says Meffre. "We are not used to seeing empty buildings left intact. In Europe, salvage companies move in immediately and take what they can sell as antiques. Here, they only take the metal piping to sell for scrap. In the Vanity ballroom alone, we saw four giant art deco chandeliers, beautiful objects, each one unique. It was almost unbelievable that they could still be there. It is as if America has no sense of its own architectural history and culture."

The link to the gallery is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddes...tography-detroit#/?picture=370173060&index=15

I, for one find this incredible, not only that such beautiful buildings can be left to rot, but that the interior fittings haven't been salvaged. To see a whole library of books slowly mouldering is shocking, but not nearly as shocking as a whole police station, complete with case files and evidence simply abandoned. There is no way that could happen in the UK (or anywhere else in Europe). What about confidentiality?

Any Loungers fron Detroit, I would be very interested to hear your views.

 

[Mr Badger]

Folks should also check out Julien Temple's feature length doc, Requiem for Detroit, and the shelved MC5 film, A True Testimonial, if they can find 'em anywhere online...

 

[FinnSpinn]

This is how Detroit used to be:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/7136?size=_original

 

[David Conwill]

Ruin porn sells magazines, but there's lots more to Detroit than that, and if you came and looked around you'd find plenty of green shoots to make you feel cautiously optimistic about the city's future.

Tellingly, our new governor had his victory celebration at the newly reopened Book-Cadillac Hotel downtown.

-Dave

 

[dhermann1]

Bartender: Looks like these identical threads need to be merged.

 

[SGT Rocket]

That is so sad.

 

[W-D Forties]

Ruin porn sells magazines, but there's lots more to Detroit than that, and if you came and looked around you'd find plenty of green shoots to make you feel cautiously optimistic about the city's future.

Tellingly, our new governor had his victory celebration at the newly reopened Book-Cadillac Hotel downtown.

-Dave

I hadn't realised this thread had already started when I posted on the same subject in The Observation Bar. Dave, I'm glad that there are some green shoots out there, it looks to have been an amazing city in it's heyday. What shocked me the most was the way the public buildings such as the library and particularly the police station had just been completely abandoned, like something from the Marie Celeste.

 

[Tomasso]

In NYC and Chicago lots of great old buildings were lost but there they were razed to erect new buildings; irreplaceable buildings were replaced with glass boxes. Nowhere near as sad as Detroit but sad nonetheless.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The most heartening thing to come out of Detroit, though, is what's been going on at the old Tiger Stadium site. Neighborhood volunteers have been pitching in to take care of the remaining ballfield, mowing it, pulling weeds, picking up trash, and playing pickup games there during the summer. The city government, for whatever reason, desperately wants that particular site to be a desolate wasteland -- but the people have other ideas, and more power to them.

 

[David Conwill]

In NYC and Chicago lots of great old buildings were lost but there they were razed to erect new buildings; irreplaceable buildings were replaced with glass boxes. Nowhere near as sad as Detroit but sad nonetheless.

The tear-down tragedies in Detroit are when they are pulled down for no reason beyond some vague notion that another empty lot will better attract a developer than a decayed architectural gem.

Give me ten abandoned buildings with character over one soulless glass-and-steel monstrosity; or, worse yet, an empty lot or a parking lot.

The really amusing thing about all the ruin porn is that many show the Packard factory as though it's a new development due to the 2008 recession. It's only been partially occupied since 1956!

-Dave

 

[David Conwill]

Speaking of green shoots, I notice a couple of shots taken in Broderick Tower. That building is on the verge of being rehabbed, as funding just came through for the project in the last week or two.

-Dave

 

[David Conwill]

The city government, for whatever reason, desperately wants that particular site to be a desolate wasteland -- but the people have other ideas, and more power to them.

The city counsel has retained a big chip on its shoulder for anything before the Coleman Young administration, and seems to relish tearing down landmarks erected by those who might now live in the suburbs. The current mayor seems to be better about this.

-Dave

 

[Smithy]

There was a cracking documentary on the telly here (BBC I think - British anyway) about the decline of Detroit and the vast abandoned areas. I found it fascinating, eerie and sad. Almost along the lines of a modern day ghost town in parts.

Thanks for posting that link, once again fascinating to see.

 

[p71towny]

That is sad. If I were crazy rich I'd invest in the restoration of those structures that could be saved. First I would need to eliminate the drug problem tho. No point in fixing something up only to have some crack-head destroy it.

 

[Idledame]

I was looking for my husband's ancestors' homes in Detroit on Zillow.com. Amazing. Gorgeous old houses-Victorian to mid '50s in bad nieghborhoods or sometimes the only house in a neighborhood, going for $2000-$5000 each. One house was worth more in 1920 than it's worth now. In a good neighborhood here they would be worth 100 times that amount. Just kills you to know they'll all be torn down or left to rot.

 

[Foofoogal]

I saw some documentary or TV news in last week something about how there has been a bit of revival though with small businesses using the buildings. Did no one else see this? I cannot remember where though I saw it. I do hope though.

 

[Doublegun]

I've lived near Detroit for 20+ years and I wish I could say the author is being overly negative, but I can't. As was stated, Detroit was once a city of over 2 million and today the population is well below 1 million. Some of the buildings have been saved and renovated but for most it too late. The crown jewel would be Michigan Central Station but the area around it is a wasteland. There is virtually nothing there. Note also that over 1/3rd of the homes in the city limits of Detroit are abandon. There is no way to put a positive spin on the story. How bad is it for those who remain? Last year there was a story about the public schools in Detroit and the fact that the school corporation could not afford to buy basic supplies including toilet paper. It's that bad.

 

[rue]

My God. I actually cried when I first looked at those pictures. There's nothing I hate more than waste, but especially historical waste. Those buildings were abandoned long before the current economic situation and I'm ashamed. It's everywhere though, even here in my small town. What is wrong with people :rage:

 

[Doublegun]

My God. I actually cried when I first looked at those pictures. There's nothing I hate more than waste, but especially historical waste. Those buildings were abandoned long before the current economic situation and I'm ashamed. It's everywhere though, even here in my small town. What is wrong with people :rage:

Detroit has been dying a slow death for 50 years. It has nothing to do with the current economic situation BUT there is much to be learned from the demise of Detroit. Until we focus on bringing industry back to the US and balance production and profits this is what every industrial city will look like. By the way, this should not be news to anyone in the US. Time magazine has been covering the city for over a year. It is virtually impossible to appreciate the scope of the decay without driving through the city.

It's hard to imagine why any industry would move here. Neat old architecture isn't a reason.