Detroit Photo of the Day

[tapezord]

I've always lumped the Hudson's building in with Tiger Stadium. Here are 2 structures whose value can be judged as being 99 parts sentimental/historical and 1 part architecturual.

[Aaron]

I've always lumped the Hudson's building in with Tiger Stadium. Here are 2 structures whose value can be judged as being 99 parts sentimental/historical and 1 part architecturual.

I disagree. While both Hudson's and Tiger Stadium were hodgepodges of additions, they sure struck me as architecturally interesting. I'm young enough to have no memories of the downtown Hudson's (which closed a year before I was born.) Still, it was blocky and bold and mammoth, and the setbacks yielding to the "tower" on top was very, very cool in my opinion.

As for Tiger Stadium, I loved its closed, enveloping construction, which made it feel very cosy despite having the largest center in the majors. The upper deck seats were right on top of the action. The only thing close to this is the Ballpark in Arlington (or whatever corporate whore name it has now), which borrowed the closedness and right field overhang look without actually overhanging.

True, both buildings weren't in the greatest shape, but I chalk that up to poor management and for Hudson's, abandonment. There weren't any inherent architectural flaws in either building. Fenway, Wrigley, and the Woolworth Building all look pretty darn good for going on a century, I'd say.

Edited December 1, 2005 by Aaron

[RustTown]

I guess anything can be architecturally significant. But these two structures are largely agreed upon as being relatively insiginificant architectural-wise, especially the exterior of Tiger Stadium.

[tapezord]

I guess anything can be architecturally significant. But these two structures are largely agreed upon as being relatively insiginificant architectural-wise, especially the exterior of Tiger Stadium.

What, you don't like reinforced concrete covered in aluminum siding? At least fenway uses red brick. As for wrigley, Zac-Ty Davis' design was fairly advanced for its era. If you look the elevations, the second deck is set back a significant amount from the first deck. This allowed for a timeless design that didn't have nearly the problem with poles compares to Tiger Stadium. Fenway is very much the same thing. This is in my opinion why these two stadiums, along with their neighborhoods, have lasted so long.

I do not deny the fact that Tiger Stadium was probably the best place to watch a ballgame in the leauge. Howver, once attendence passed 20,000, the pole problem began to reer its ugly head. Anything over 20K resulted in a very poor viewing experiance because you had to sit in your actual assigned seat.

[andrew.w]

Although Hudson's may have been a "hodge-podge" of additions and was architecturally flawed when it came to detailing, I do agree that it had an interesting overall massing.

Beides it's architecture is vastly more interesting and pleasing than the current sunken parking deck!

[Zissou]

Beides it's architecture is vastly more interesting and pleasing than the current sunken parking deck!

BALDERDASH

[hudkina]

Come on! 3 ft steel I-beams are way better than anything built in the 20's!

[Jin Kim]

Come on! 3 ft steel I-beams are way better than anything built in the 20's!

I've actually been able to convince few people that those were sculptures. Well at least for few seconds until they realized what they were.

Edited December 2, 2005 by Jin Kim

[RustTown]

I love this picture I found of Tiger Stadium on Flickr:

MiRea (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirea/)

Tiger Stadium (With Fisher way up in New Center)

There is no doubt in my mind that it is a landmark, and is quite visible from Canada.

[jerald]

Monday, October 25, 2004

The fall colors brighten up an otherwise dreary day at Chene Park, along the river near downtown Detroit. From the top of this berm, we get an interesting angle of the skyline.

Hey guys, 2 questions.

1) What/Where is chene park?

2) What is the building to the left in this picture. It looks like it would be a bad a$$ house.

You can always count on me for a dumb question

[Jin Kim]

1) What/Where is chene park?

Chene Park is a park/outdoor theater with docks for boats located between the Ren Cen and Rivertown along the Detroit River (next to where the cement towers used to be).

2) What is the building to the left in this picture. It looks like it would be a bad a$$ house.

That's part of the outdoor theater complex.

Someone had posted a photo of the cement towers on this forum a few weeks ago, but I cannot seem to locate it. You could see the fabric roof of the theater next to them.

At any rate, there's a better photo that'll show give you better sense of the location and what the theater looks like at...

http://www.cheneparkdetroit.com/

Unfortunately that site is more of site for concert information than park itself.

On the side note, I imagine the fabric roof on the new bus terminal/transit center in Time Square would be made of similar material and would withstand the time just as well as the Chene Park theater roof.

[RustTown]

Chene Park will probably be removed under the current riverfront development plan and the concept of it moved next to Hart Plaza. Three parks of a similar nature are concieved for the east riverfront. Rivard Plaza a few blocks east of the RenCen will have the tent roof, as well as a redevelopment of Gabriel Richard Park at the very eastern end of this redevelopment, and then Mt. Elliott in between:

[andrew.w]

I didn't want to pull up the tread from all the way back on page 29 of the forum (yes, I was there skimming over some of the things that were posted before I was a member.) so I am posting this here. I noticed that there was one for the Fox Theater turning 75 that included pictures of the theater before rnovation.

Allan, do you still have access to those pictures? I was curious how much Ilitch actually did.

[devin c]

There is so much potential for the Tiger Stadium area. Any other city, and there would be some major development there right now. Anytime I go down there I am so disappointed that such a great historical site can go unnoticed. I hope whatever replaces(because we all know it will be torn down) Tiger Stadium can bring some sort of vibrance to corktown and downtown Detroit.

[tapezord]

getting the thread back on track to its namesake...

from the old 35mm

[statedude3]

I know this view has been seen by everyone here 1,000 times. But I had to post the innaugural shot that was taken with my new camera!! Hopefully I can provide some better pictures, as I become more interested in photography!!

[Aaron]

A street corner in Woodbridge.

[andrew.w]

A street corner in Woodbridge.

I think the house on the corner has a bit of an identity crisis: Some distictive todor or stick sections on an otherwise ordinary brick city house. The colors make the difference even more extreme since the majority of the house is beige while the two different portions are almost orange!

[kneff]

A photo I took of the RenCen.

[kneff]

A photo of Hart Plaza.

[Michi]

HP looks really good in black and white!

Here's my favorite from Dally in the Alley:

[Zissou]

A photo of Hart Plaza.

Is this touched up in any way?

[Aaron]

It's not entire in black and white. There seems to be a hint of blue, so he probably manually adjusted the color levels.

[kneff]

Is this touched up in any way?

Yes, I desaturated it a bit and adjusted the contrast.

View from the people mover

[Allan]

Great photo, Kneff! I like the fact that there are still hints of color to be seen. Thanks for giving new life to this thread - one that I have been too busy to update for the past month or two (school keeps me busy these days).