The National

How many times have you walked or driven by it?  A solitary structure that stands defiantly as a reminder of what once was. 

photo credit: R.Saxon

Albert Kahn's' National Theater is the only surviving theater in what was Detroit's first entertainment district.  Designed in partnership with Ernest Wilby, it would be Kahn's only theater.  Today, it sits prominently at 118 Monroe Street slowly decaying.  Like an abandoned and rusting vintage car, it's not hard to imagine restoring what was once a magnificent entertainment venue.  But the relentless clock of Mother Nature is loudly ticking off the few remaining days for its rescue. 

The National Theater shortly after opening
Photo Credit (State Historic Preservation Office)

The National Theater light at night
Photo Credit (Manning Bros.)

The 800 seat theater opened on September 16, 1911, surrounded by the old Detroit Opera House, the Gayety, Temple, Columbia, Liberty and Family theaters.  Two 65 foot high towers, capped with gold domes, flank its symmetrical facade.  They contain staircases that give patrons access to the theater's balcony. Between the towers, one enters the theater through what was once a large stained glassed archway. A white terracotta skin from Detroit's Pewabic Pottery encases its north facade.   Stone carved eagles, rosettes, cupids and other details cover the facade that was lit up at night by hundreds of lights.

Main Entrance
Photo Credit

Ticket Booth and Entrance
Photo Credit

The theater opened as a live-act and vaudeville venue, but quickly changed to motion pictures after competition from the opening of The Madison in 1917. Because of its small size, it proved difficult to compete.  By the 1940s, the theater became Detroit's biggest and best Burlesque venue.  Its success continue into the 1960s (refer to this link for a video produced by Preservation Detroit). It wouldn't be until the 1970s that Burlesque's popularity began to fade.  For a brief period, under the new name The Palace, the theater featured adult films.  But by 1975, the theater was forced to closed. On February 13, 1975, the theater was added to the National Register of  Historic Places.

View from the Stage
Photo Credit

View of the stage from the upper balcony
Photo Credit

 Today, the theater is owned by the City of Detroit.  Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures has proposed saving the theater's facade and preserving it as a gateway to its proposed mixed-use Monroe block redevelopment. Negotiations between the two continue, without the support of many of the City's preservationist groups.  These groups continue to hope for the theater's full restoration.

Bedrock’s current plan to save the facade and use it
as a gateway to a new mixed-use development.
Photo Credit (Robin Runyan)

----------

Austin, Dan, "National Theater", HistoricDetroit.org.

Runyan, Robin, "Can the National Theater be Saved?", Curbed Detroit, Sept. 29, 2017.

"National Theatre", Detroit-ish.com.

McGraw, Bill, "Raw Video: A Rare Visit Inside Detroit's Long-Abandoned National Theater", Deadline Detroit Lifestyle, Jan. 17, 2014.

Detroit Walking Tour

Its amazing to see how many buildings are under renovation downtown. So, while taking a lunchtime stroll, I decided to take pictures of some of the historic Detroit buildings currently under renovation. Where possible, you can contrast my picture with an historic photo of the building.

Farwell Building (1915)

Photo Credit

Photo Credit: R.Saxon Jr.

Named after Jesse H. and Emmer J. Farwell, the building opened in 1915.  Designed by architect Harrie W. Bonnah, the building was home to attorneys, dentist and other professionals.  The interior was designed entirely by Louis Comfort Tiffany and was best known for its vaulted dome lobby with thousands of inlaid tiffany glass pieces.  Kraemer Design Group is the lead renovation Architect.  The finished building will contain 82 residential apartments.

The David Stott Building (1929)

Photo Credit

Photo Credit: R.Saxon Jr.

Designed by architectural firm of Donaldson and Meier, the Art-Deco styled building open in 1929.  Because of the Great Depression, it was the last skyscraper built in Detroit until the mid-1950s.  The ground floor was once home to the SkyBar Lounge. Purchased by Bedrock Real Estate Service (Dan Gilbert) in 2015, it is undergoing a complete restoration with a scheduled opening in 2018. 

T.B. Rayl Building (1915)

Photo Credit

Photo Credit: R.Saxon

Designed by Wirt Rowland, the building opened in 1915 and was home to T.B. Rayl Co., a retail hardware firm.  In 1925, the small structure next door was acquired, demolished and replaced by an addition.  The cornice was also removed and an 8th floor was added. In 1956, Meyer Jewelry acquired ownership and made the building its headquarters. In 1983, Eastern Wig and Hair Company made the building its home until 2014 when it was purchased by Dan Gilbert. A joint venture between Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Ventures and Shinola is renovating the building into the Shinola Hotel.  Work began in 2017.

Elliott Building (Old Kresge) (1894)

Photo Credit

Photo Credit: R.Saxon Jr.

Detroit entrepreneur and developer, William Elliot, opened the building in 1894.  Five years later, the ground floor would be occupied by the nation's first S. S. Kresge Five and Dime store. Originally designed by Wilson Brothers & Company of Philadelphia, the building would remain home to Kresge until 1959.  Various retailers would control the ground floor space until Elliott Building, LLC acquired ownership.  The new owners hired the Kraemer Design Group to lead a design team renovating the building.  When completed, the building will contain 23 loft-style apartments with ground floor retail space.

Metropolitan Building (Jeweler's Building) (1925)

Photo Credit

Photo Credit: R.Saxon Jr.

In 1919, George Yost came up with the idea of centralizing a single trade into one building.  Thus was born the Metropolitan Building.  Opening in May of 1926, the building became informally known as the jewelers building since it housed jewelers and related businesses.  Designed in the Gothic Revival style by the architectural firm of Weston & Ellington, the Detroit Free Press described the building as "one of the most unique shopping and merchandising centers ever built in America."  Succumbing to Detroit's declining commercial activity, the building changed hands multiple times until closing in 1979.

A $32 million dollar renovation is now underway to covert the building into the Element Detroit at the Metropolitan Building, a 110 room hotel.  The design team is being lead by Quinn Evans Architects and Patrick Thompson Design.  A joint venture between the Means Group and the Roxbury Group, the hotel hopes to open in the summer of 2018.

The Vinton Building (1917)

Photo Credit

Photo Credit: R.Saxon Jr.

Named after Robert K. Vinton, a prominent Detroit building contractor, this Albert Kahn designed building opened in 1917.  In 1922, the building was purchased by the Guaranty Trust Co. and the building became known as the Guaranty Building.  But after the Great Depression, the bank lost its ownership rights.  Ownership continued to change hands multiple times until its closing in the 1990s.  In 2015, Dan Gilbert gained ownership and in 2017 began renovation of the building into apartments.

---------------

Farwell Building

Austin, Dan, Farwell Building, Historic Detroit.org

Runyan, Robin, "Capitol Park Updates: New Residential Construction Planned; Farwell Restoration Begins," Curbed Detroit, August 30, 2016.

David Stott Building

Runyan, Robin, "Checking in on the Restoration of the David Stott Building," Curbed Detroit, June 27, 2017.

Profile on the David Stott Building, SkyscraperPage.com.

T.B. Rayl Building

T B Rayl Company Building, mgsmith, Flickr.

Rayl's Hardware on Griswold Street, Detroit Public Library, Digital Collections

T.B. Rayl Company Building/Meyer Jewelry Building, Detroit-ish.com.

Runyan, Robin, "The Shinola Hotel Takes Shape in Downtown Detroit,", Curbed Detroit, August 24, 2017.

Elliott Building

King, R.J., "Elliott Building in Downtown Detroit Completes $21M Financing Package,", DBusiness Daily News, August 19, 2016.

Lower Woodward Avenue Historic District, Wikipedia.

Metropolitan Building

Austin, Dan, Metropolitan Building, HistoricDetroit.org.

Runyan, Robin, "The Metropolitan Buildng Officially Starts Redevelopment into Element Detroit Hotel," Curbed Detroit, August 29, 2017.


Vinton Building

Vinton Building, HistoricDetroit.org.

Beshouri, Paul, "Vinton Rehab Adds Apartments, Skywalk, Tiny Roof Deck," Curbed Detroit, May 15, 2015.

The New Rogell

As an urban planner, I've always been fascinated by how cities grow. Populations rise. Farmland gets paved over.  Housing tracks turn into apartment complexes.  Office complexes rise into skyscrapers. But occasionally, pockets of land go untouch.  Magically frozen in time, these pockets give present day visitors a glimpse into the past.

The Rogell Golf Club formerly located at 18601 Berg
 (where the Rouge River passes under Grand River Blvd.)
 sits surrounded by the neighborhoods of northwest Detroit
(Malvern Hill, Oak Grove, Bentler-Pickford and Old Redford)

The Rogell Golf Club in northwest Detroit is a pocket.  A golf course designed by perhaps the game's two most renowned course designers, surrounded by a City that developed around it. It briefly survived as Michigan's first African-American owned golf course.  Today, it sits awaiting new life.

The Story of New Rogell begins in...

1872
Banned from the City's prestigious social and dramatic clubs, The Phoenix Club was opened as a place where the Jewish elite could dine, socialize, play billiards, bowl and stage performances.  Max Fisher, whose name adorns the Detroit Orchestra's current home, becomes one of its first and most prominent members.

1913
Wishing to add a golf course, the club purchases 113 acres of land in a village near the present day city of Redford. Straddling the Rouge river, architect Jack Bendelow designs a nine-hole course.  It would be one of 54 courses designed by the Architect in the state of Michigan.

1920
As golf's popularity increases, the course becomes self-sustaining.  Separating itself from the club, the course is sold to the city of Redford and becomes the Redford Country Club on January 1, 1920.

1921
Legendary golf course designer Donald Ross is hired to redesign and upgrade the course to 18-holes. From the middle tees, the course measures 5,838 yards and plays to a 68.1(course rating)/123 (course slope).

1926
Wishing to continue expansion, the Phoenix Club moves to a new location. The facility is sold and a new course is designed by Donald Ross on 400 acres of farmland in Farmington Hills.  Albert Kahn designs the clubhouse for the new Franklin Hills Country Club.

1945
The Redford Country Club is sold to the City of Detroit for $174,000.

1979
The Club is re-named after Detroit Tigers Shortstop and longtime councilman Bill Rogell.  Rogell led the Tigers to a World Series victory over the Chicago Cubs in 1935.  He would serve 36 years on City Council and would be honored with throwing the first pitch at the last game held at Tiger Stadium.

2007
The Golf course is purchased by the Greater Grace Temple from the City of Detroit for $2.5 million. It becomes the first Black-owned golf course in the state of Michigan.  The course is renamed The New Rogell.  It becomes one of only six African-American owned coursed in the United States.

2013
Arguing they are unable to make the course profitable, the church closes the course.  The church struggles to maintain the site.  They also fail to gain city approval to sell the property to a developer wishing to convert the course into a cemetery.

(Credit: Mike Campbell/WWJ Newsradio 950)
photo credit

2017
The City of Detroit Planning and Development Department in collaboration with neighborhood residents and community organizations continues to actively work on a comprehensive neighborhood plan for Northwest Detroit along the Grand River corridor. Essential to this vision is a discussion about the future of the Rogell Golf Course.  Proposed new uses include productive landscapes, summer and winter trails, outdoor education, habitat creation, horse stables and riding, playgrounds, sports fields and of course golf.  Final community meetings were held in May 2017.


---------------------

"Greater Grace Temple Celebrates the Purchase of the 'New Rogell Golf Course", AmericaJR, June, 30, 2007, http://americajr.com/news/rogell-golf-course.html

"Franklin Hills Country Club", Jewish Historical Society of Michigan, http://www.michjewishhistory.org/gallery/2017/05/franklin-hills-country-club.html.

McCafferty, Art, "Michigan Golf Architects: Tom Bendelow - Golf's Johnny Appleseed", Michigan Golfer Magazine, May/June 2004, http://www.michigangolfer.com/may04/may0504-4.pdf.

The Original Golf Blogger, "New Rogell Golf Course Review and Requiem", Golf Blogger.com, May 16, 2013, https://golfblogger.com/new_rogell_golf_course_review_and_requiem/.

"Residents Protest Detroit Church's Overgrown Golf Course", CBS Detroit, Sept. 10, 2014, http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/09/10/residents-protest-detroit-churchs-overgrown-golf-course/.

GolfClubAtlas.com, Ross's Courses, page 9, http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=41570.40;wap2

"Billy Rogell", Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Rogell

McDaniel, Pete, "Saving Grace", Golf Digest, July 28, 2008, https://www.golfdigest.com/story/gw20080801mcdaniel

Guardian Building Bridge

Photo credit: Rob Saxon

Walking along Larned to work each day, I make it a point to gaze up. Towering over morning commuters is a skybridge that connects two of Detroit's most iconic skyscrapers: The Art Deco style Guarding Building and the International style One Woodward. The bridge's sleekly polished metal panels and rounded corners pays no respect to either style. And like a meat skewer, shamelessly pierces the skin of both buildings and connects their internal arteries.

Skybridge connecting One Woodward (left) and
The Guardian Building (right)
photo credit: Esoteric Survey

Each day I look up and the curious designer in me asks:

Why was the bridge placed so high?

On the Guardian side, the bridge inserts into a large slot cut into the building's southeast corner. The dramatic modification is increased by the corner's taper.  Because the bridge isn't perpendicular to the Guardian building's exterior, one can see the bridge penetrating into the building.  And because the bridge's east facade isn't flush with the Guardian's facade, the design gives the illusion that the opening isn't quite large enough.

The Skybridge inserts into an opening cut into
the southeast corner of the Guardian Building
photo credit: Roadside Architecture.com

On One Woodward's side, the bridge is almost perfectly centered on the north face.  The building's delicate skin is pierced with the precision of a needle. The bridge surgically connects into what appears to be a former public restroom, but there is no hint of how the bridge is supported.  The engineer in me wonders what amount of shear force would cause the bridge to break catatrophically from the face of the building. 

Skybridge connection to One Woodward
Photo credit: Rob Saxon

Using the internet to find documentation on the bridge proved difficult. But despite limited information, below is the story of two buildings and its mysterious skybridge.  I welcome photos or comments that fill in missing information.

1929
The story begins in 1929 with the construction of the 36-story Guarding Building.  Originally known as the Union Trust Building, it was designed by Wirt C. Rowland, who at the time was employed by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. Known today as The Smith Group JJR, the historic firm is located on the building's 17th floor.  It was nicknamed the Cathedral of Finance and is particularly known for it's vaulted Lobby and pewabic tile decorated Banking Hall. After an award winning renovation, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

By I, Mikerussell
Photo Credit

By Michael Barera
Photo Credit

1958

In 1958, Minoru Yamasaki, in association with Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, is asked to design a headquarters for the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company (nicknamed "Michcon"). Michcon was created by the merger of four gas companies in 1937. And in 1949, The American Natural Gas Company or ANR became its parent company. This would be Yamasaki's first skyscraper and he would later use many of its design elements on in his more famous World Trade Center formerly located in New York City.  The new skyscraper became known as the ANR building. It would later be renamed One Woodward.

One Woodward Avenue
Minoru Yamasaki
photo credit

1972
By the 1970s, employees of both Michcon and ANR were located in both buildings. To ease movement between the two buildings, the Detroit based architectural firm Rossetti Associates, was hired to design and oversee the construction of a bridge.  More specifically, to design a bridge giving Guardian Building employees access to One Woodward's cafeteria (see citation).  The bridge was therefore located at the Guarding Building's 16th floor and at One Woodward's 15th floor. Quoting a former employee of ANR, "For several years, the company cafeteria was in One Woodward, so the skywalk was handy." (see citation)

1990s
By the 1990s, ANR had divested itself of Michcon and relocated its employees.  Remaining Michcon employees were relocated to the adjacent Guardian building.  The ANR building was sold and re-named One Woodward.  It's at this time that I believe the bridge is closed.

Khalil Rahal, Interim Director of the Wayne County
Economic Development Corp., walks across the unused bridge
Photo credit: Glenn Triest

2000s
Michcon is reorganized as the MCN Energy Group.  In 2001, the MCN Energy Group merges with DTE Energy.  One year later, DTE Energy sells the Guardian Building to a private real estate investor: The Sterling Group.

In 2005, David Shock commissioned a proposal to convert the skybridge into a bar.  Three designers at M1/DTW, Christian Unverzagt, Kristen Dean and Emily Kutil, complete the design. Below are photos borrowed from the proposal.  The design is reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.  I can almost feel myself floating weightless through the space.  Go to this link for additional photos.

Photo credit: M1/DTW

Photo credit: M1/DTW

Photo credit: M1/DTW

In 2007, The Sterling Group sold The Guardian Building to Wayne County. To this day, David Shock continues to work on gaining the County's support for his skybar proposal (see article in Curbed Detroit).

In 2012, Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures purchased One Woodward.  The building is renamed Fifth Third at One Woodward in 2014 after Fifth Third Bank agrees to relocate it's headquarters in the building.

In 2018, the bridge is outfitted with lights making it a "floating bar of lights".  Designed by artist Phillip K. Smith, III and facilitated by the Detroit's Library Street Collective Gallery, the bridge is adorned with shifting colored lights. In the words of Smith,

"By day, the Skybridge will continue to be seen as its historical self within the architecture and massing of downtown.  But by night, it will become a beacon for the beauty, creativity, and innovation of Detroit."

"Floating Bar of Lights" designed by Phillip K. Smith, III and facilitated
by the Detroit's Library Street Collective Gallery
Photos Credit: Lance Gerber 

---------------

Wikipedia, Guardian Building, Website.

Wikipedia, One Woodward Avenue, Website.

Discuss Detroit, Guardian Building Skybridge, Website.

Tsai, Janis, "The Surprising Link Between Detroit's One Woodward Avenue and the Original World Trade Center," Daily Detroit, Sept. 14, 2015.

Michigan Modern, Michigan Consolidated Gas Company Building, Website.

McGeen, Denise, Historic Detroit, One Woodward Avenue, Website.

"A 7 Year Fight for the Guardian Building's Tube Bar Proposal," Curbed Detroit, March 12, 2012.

DTE Energy, A History as a Natural Gas Utility, Website.

Funding Universe, ANR Pipeline Co. History, Website.

M1/DTW, United Bar, Website.

DeVito, Lee, 'Detroit Skybridge' will turn into 'a floating bar of light' this weekend', Detroit MetroTimes, August 22, 2018.

The First Detroit River Tunnel

So you want to take the tunnel to Canada?  Sure, there's the tunnel for cars that opened in 1930.  But did you know that 20 years earlier the cities of Detroit and Windsor were connected by a train tunnel?

Map locating Detroit's vehicular and rail tunnels.
photo credit

Opened in July 1910, the Michigan Central Railway tunnel connected passenger and freight rail traffic between the two countries.  The tunnel eliminated the 12+ hour wait for rail cars to be ferried across the river. Instead, rail traffic can pass through the 1.6 mile long tunnel in minutes.  On the US side, trains enter south of the Bagley Avenue bridge just past the Michigan Central Station.  On the Canadian side, they enter just north of Wyandotte Street (parallel to Wellington Avenue) in Windsor.

Ferry carries rail cars across the Detroit River circa 1900
photo credit

The tunnel was the first built without compressed air.  It was constructed using an engineering method known as Immersion Tube.  The method is cheaper and faster than boring into the Earth and is simple in concept:

• Dig a 13 foot deep trench in the Detroit River bottom
• Float bulkheaded sections of the steel tunnel tube (263 feet (80 meters) long) into place
• Sink the sections into the trench with weights
• Align the new section with the previously sunk section
• Drain the water between the sections
• Seal the connection 
• Backfill the trench and connected tube sections with concrete
• Pump the steel tubes dry
• Finish the inside of the steel tube with 1.5 feet (50 cm) thick concrete 

the Stages of Immersion Tube Construction
Image Credit (figure 4)

Steel tubes being floated into place along the Detroit River
photo credit

The Detroit River Tunnel Company built the tunnel for $8.5 million.  It was constructed under the supervision of the New York Central Railway's Engineering Vice President, William J. Wilgus.

Seven workmen operating machinery while building
the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, 1907.
photo credit

Beginning in August 1992, the tunnel's north tube underwent a $27 million enlargement to permit the passage of stacked container railcars and multilevel auto carriers railcars.  Rivaling the engineering of the original design, the enlargement involved the removal of a portion of the concrete ceiling, floor and sides. The link below contains a video describing the history of the tunnel as well as details of the expansion project:

CP Rail Detroit Windsor Tunnel Enlargement

The tunnel today continues to handle an annual volume of approximately 400,000 railcars.

Entrance into the Detroit side of Michigan Central Railway Tunnel
photo credit

Closer detail of Detroit side entrance.  Note that the left
tunnel's ceiling and side walls have been modified to
accept taller and wider rail cars.
photo credit

----------------------

Gleit, Jon, "The Detroit River Tunnel Few Have Seen: The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel", April 12, 2016, Detroit Historical Society.

Lee, Ardelia, "The Other Detroit River Tunnel No One's Told You About", July 9, 2016,  Daily Detroit.

Moonlight Towers

Photo Credit

Above is an amazing photo of Southeastern Michigan tweeted by Astronaut Shane Kimbrough.  The cities of Detroit, Toledo and Cleveland are visible. The white glow of Detroit's new LED street lights clearly distinguishes the City.  

The blog below was written in December of 2012.  It describes Detroit's place in history as one of the first major cities to install street lights, or "moonlight towers" as they were called in the 1890s.

----------------

There are over 85,000 street lights in Detroit and over half aren't working.  It was recently announced that a new Detroit Lighting Authority would be created in an attempt to make long over due repairs.

PLD Street light installed

at DHC's Emerald Springs

Despite their condition, have you ever stopped to notice the various designs?  I recently witnessed the installation of street lights at three Detroit Housing Commission (DHC) developments.  Surveying a few nearby streets quickly reveals quite a few selections ranging from older incandescent pendants to the typical white yellow glow of cantilevering low pressure sodium lamps.

Street light found in
Detroit's Harmonie Park

Street light found on
Gratiot Avenue





 













Doing a little research, I discovered that Detroit was one of the first cities to electrically light its streets.  The early solution was found in engineered structures nicknamed "Moonlight Towers".  Extremely bright lamps known as carbon arc lamps were hung from towers more than 150 feet in height.  Between the 1890s and 1910s, more than 120 towers illuminated 21 square miles of Detroit. Part of the system was sold to the City of Austin, Texas in 1895.  Today, one can still find 15 of these original Detroit towers illuminating various Austin neighborhoods.  Pictures can be found by going to this link: Andy Mattern Photography.

A moonlight tower  standing
in the foreground of Detroit's
Old City Hall circa. 1900
Lycurgus S. Glover



A working replica of a
 moonlight tower located in Zilker
Park, Austin, Texas built in 1967
Larry D. Moore CC BY-SA 3.0

The demise of Detroit's tower lighting system was caused by chiefly two developments around the turn of the century.  First, new construction technology enabled buildings (otherwise known as skyscrapers) to be taller than the towers.  Taller buildings meant less effective light distribution.  Second, the development of incandescent lamp technology. Though these early arc lamps were in fact more energy efficient than incandescent fixtures, they in comparison had poor light distribution patterns (including flickering), generated greater amounts of noise and heat (sometimes even sparks), and had shorter life cycles.

As we move into the second decade of the 21st century, street light technology is again improving as cities make the transition to cutting edge, energy efficient LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology.

Learn more about Detroit's early street light system by reading this article in Low Tech Magazine.