Detroit Photo of the Day

[wolverine]

^ Jacobsville sandstone? It looks like that was what it was built of, and it is very red in color too. Buildings made of this brick are very hard to come by.

[Michi]

Thanks for all the memories!

Where has my city gone?

[Aaron]

The hopefully soon-to-be-renovated Argonaut Building in the New Center. It's hard to get an idea of just how big this thing is unless you're standing next to it. It's only ten stories tall, but occupies most of the block bound by Second, Milwaukee, Cass, and Baltimore.

I really like the ornate top of the building, too.

[Zissou]

Its a great looking building and will hopefully be a great place for people to live.

[RustTown]

Great looking building, but more importantely, those are some QUALITY photos of it. BTW, Orton Development of California is still planning to renovate this building. It will make an amazing apartment/condo/retail building when renovated. This will be a quality project.

[ironchapman]

I like the crown at the top of it.

Wish I had some photos of Detroit to post.

Edited June 29, 2005 by ironchapman

[baldy]

June 30, 2005

4120 Cass - Waldorf Condominiums (formerly apartments)

This lovely building is located at, just south of Willis (Avalon bakery). It was built in 1897 and used to be one of three side by side buildings. Unfortunately, the other two were demolished in the 1990s. This was renovated into condos in 2001, which means it is part of the NEZ. There is a 2000 sq ft unit currently for sale for $275,000 info, which I think is way too much. Maybe it's because it is right next to a park. Then again just about all of the renovation projects I have seen in this area of midtown have been in this price range.

I don't know much else about this building. Allan had thought maybe the turrets had the typical pointed roof on it at one time. Does anyone else have any information on this building?

Just to the north is a little commercial building (you can see it on the left side of the picture above and the right below) then there is ....

4142 Cass - Venn Manor Condominiums

The Beaux Arts style building was designed by architects Van Leyen and Schilling in 1904 for Angeline Venn and her brother-in-law Ernest Venn. It was originally six apartments and was considered to be quite fancy and modern as it had indoor plumbing! (Ernest was a plumber).

Edited July 1, 2005 by ebaldy

[Aaron]

The building is called Venn Manor. It was bought and renovated by Bob Slattery, who lives one block north in the Stuber-Stone building and runs Midtown Detroit Construction.

[Aaron]

The view down Bates Street at Cadillac Tower (1927, 437 feet.)

[baldy]

Ah yes, Bob. I met him on the Saturday of the Arts Festival. He was at his new project on Alexandrine, which I guess is where he'll be moving to. One of the things I like about this project is that every unit is 3 floors and has a 2 car garage with a balcony over it! I'll post of picture of it sometime.

I would like to see a list of all the projects he has been involved in and when they were renovated. It's seams like about 75% of the projects going on in midtown are a result of his handy work.

@Aaron, I really like the angle of that photo. It's gives a very nice urban feel while giving a full view of the tower. I guess we can thank Mr. Woodward for that !

[Detroit_Luveur]

So this Bob guys is Detroit's little D. Trump, eh?

[dnast]

Wow, those two condo conversions are beautiful! I'm normally for more affordable housing (not assisted), but high-income housing has to go somewhere. As much as I'd like to live there, I think you should have to spend some big bucks to live in places like those.

[baldy]

Alright, I found out some information on the buildings on Cass (thanks to the PW midtown tour guide for providing) and updated with the photos above.

[Allan]

Monday, July 4, 2005

As the daylight fades, the city lights come on, complete with the Penobscot Building's red, white, & blue lighting scheme.

Another view of the Penobscot's lighting scheme.

And finally a scene from the Freedom Festival fireworks on Wednesday night.

[RustTown]

Allan, how were you able to get that high in the Book Tower and what floor is it? It doesn't look quite high enough to be the roof levels.

[Allan]

A guy I know has an office in the Book. He pulled a few strings and got a few people permission to go up there during the fireworks. We were on the 33rd floor fire escape, but building security kicked us off right before they were about to start, so we were scrambling around trying to find windows that would open (most have been screwed shut). We settled on the 30th floor. We wanted to watch from 36, but the owner's private party was up there, so that didn't work out too well. Floors 37, 38, & 39 are in the roof, and access to them is locked.

[RustTown]

I figured as much. Getting into buildings like that is hard enough. Plus, the floors in the roof are all mechanical so it wouldn't have been comfortable or that much of a view out of those small windows, anyway.

[baldy]

Tuesday, July 5, 2005

4,612 ft from home!

The advertisements for the All Star Game are going up and I must say I like this one. I saw them starting on this Saturday morning and it just looked like a few windows were discolored. As I was driving down I-75 on Sunday evening, I noticed there was a lot more there, although I couldn't make it out. This picture is from Sunday. I would think by now that the rest of the white stuff has been removed and it is completed. Unfortunately, I don't know if I will make it back down to see the completion and other advertisements.

Edited July 5, 2005 by ebaldy

[Michi]

That's a great shot! When I first made sense of the baseball, I thought it was a giant bullet hole. My heart about sank that first time. And, I'm such an airhead that I could not figure out for the life of me what the 4,612 ft meant until I found in in the news paper.

I'm wondering when the Cadillac Tower will have its mural and when the bed sheets will be put on some buildings.

[Zissou]

I really do like the advertisement on the RenCen. Unfortunately they tried something similar on the Opera House and it isnt nearly as cool. I believe it shows a picture of an SSR with another distance from home plate. Its nice that they are using some creativity and not just putting up plain banners, well at least not yet.

[Michi]

Maybe the Chrysler Building in Windsor should have a PT Cruiser blasting out of the building like the HQ in Auburn Hills did a while back. lol

[Detroit_Luveur]

It's been a while since someone's posted a P-O-D. So I guess I'll pick up the momentum.

Detroit Tastefest, New Center Area

July 4, 2005

Edited July 14, 2005 by Detroit_Luveur

[okinawatyphoon]

Ok, lots of photos here. I am visiting family in Detroit and went to Canada. While I was there I snapped some nice pics of the Detroit skyline, and while I was in Detroit I got pics of the various buildings. Enjoy!

[wolverine]

Nice pics! I see the Wayne Co building is still surrounded by it's eternal scaffold. Anyone know when they are restarting on the renovation. I pass that place once a week and never see anything happening.

[theSuburbs]

nice pics!!