Nickelodeons and Vita-Scopes were all the rage 100 years ago but like any technology they soon would become obsolete. With one of the richest and most coveted markets in America early movie tycoons from the East & West converged on Detroit in the 1910's & 20's to stake their claim in the growing industry here. Before automobiles or the sounds of Motown were cultural icons across the globe, the city was most famous for it's opulent theater district and flourishing film industry. The Film Exchange building at the corner of Cass and Montcalm is one of the few relics of that infrastructure left in Detroit. For a time the building was wide open to scrappers, explores and the homeless. As of just recently the building was whitewashed and cinder blocked shut with absolutely no access. The treasures of the Film Exchange are locked up tightly now. Take a look with us as we explore this controversial 1920s building.
The Wurlitzer name conjures up nostalgic memories of the 1950s: diners, sock-hops and of course, jukeboxes, but the name was also a staple in the music industry since the late 1800s. Wurlitzer was key in producing organs for most, if not all, the early movie houses in Detroit and across America. In Detroit, however, the Wurlitzer name also conjures up memories of this renaissance revival style building named after the company's founder Rudolph Wurlitzer. During the early 20th century the Wurlitzer building stood as the company’s flagship store in Motown. More recently, the building has suffered the same neglect as most of Detroit’s grand old buildings. With its Romanesque columns and stunning detail, the Wurlitzer is one of Detroit’s least recognized and most under-appreciated architectural treasures. Come with onlynDetroit.com as we explore and uncover the unseen history of the great Wurlitzer building.
		The Lafayette Building is now demolished. Another historic building lost, reduced to bricks and rubble. The city council and the DEGC (Detroit Economic Growth Corporation) are ignorantly indifferent to the economic need of Detroit to preserve its old, historic architecture if not for development today, then development tomorrow. The 1924 masterpiece office building designed by world famous architect C. Howard Crane was the finest of fine retail destinations for those with money. It also housed the Michigan Supreme Court for much of its later years. It was a staple of Detroit prosperity and civic pride. Today, the building is just a memory. The Lafayette is a tribute to the saying “they don’t make like that anymore”, and no more will be able to say that about the grand old Lafayette.
The Michigan Central Depot is Detroit’s most notable urban ruin. It has, for almost 30 years, stood a silent witness to the apathy of urban decay. This beautiful relic of the days when Detroit was a powerhouse of industry still remains bold and strong. Sitting at the foot of Roosevelt Park, the Michigan Central Station has been transformed by decades of natural erosion, as well as the unstoppable force of human nature. Vandals and scrappers have left the Michigan Central a shell of it former glorious self. This post was the work of several months and years of hard work by photographer Keith Jolly and onlynDetroit.com. In 1973 Keith Jolly was a young photography student attending The College of Creative Studies. He was permitted to photograph in detail the station's lobby and concourse terminal, along with the passenger pavilions and the trains. Step back in time with onlynDetroit.com as we explore the grand Michigan Central Station circa 1973.
		Roughly ten years ago I was thinking to myself…out loud even, of the improbability that the Fort Shelby Hotel would ever be renovated and restored to its former brilliance. I find myself in awe of the fact that a contractor would even attempt a rehabilitation of this particularly deteriorated building. In the past year life has been restored to the Book Cadillac Hotel and now the Fort Shelby. During the years the hotel virtually sat empty, I explored it thoroughly and documented the devastation. Take a look through time and see what this historic treasure looked like after twenty plus years of decay.
Just off the I-94 and I-75 freeway interchange lies a piece of Detroit auto history. It’s not a museum, but it is a place that you can learn about the “real” Detroit. A Detroit where history and the fringes of society converge, sharing a common meeting place. The Fisher Body (No. 21) factory was built in the time when Detroit was expanding rapidly and factories were being erected at the steady pace in the name of progress. After six decades of operation, its lack of new technological advances in auto assembly design caught up with the building, rendering it obsolete
		For decades this Italian Gothic tower hovered over the skyline of Old Detroit. For most of its existence the Book was a premier hotel. In the 1980s a declining economy forced the troubled hotel to close. The historic Book Cadillac sat abandoned for more than 25 years. It was sparred the wrecking ball more than once. The Coleman Young administration favored knocking it down, but it proved to be too costly to the city. Years went by as the elements and thieves pried away at the structure leaving their marks. Detroiters protested the idea of destroying it until an ambitious renovation plan was announced by then Mayor Kilpatrick. Today this building stands before us, restored, as magnificent now as the day it was built. Known as the Westin Book Cadillac, its doors are once again open to the world.
The invention of the assembly line changed Detroit and America. Detroit grew and so did the Packard as it churned out replicas of classic cars. Luxury and flawless detail were the trademarks of the Packard brand. Time passed, and a half-century later the brand lost its luster as other classics like Cadillac and Chrysler took over as the dominating luxury designers of the day. The factory, designed by Albert Khan, slowly started to go empty. Today the empty carcass of the old factory is in the process of being scrapped of every last ounce of metal. Thieves have begun removing the steel and disrupting sewer and water lines in some areas, drastically compromising the overall structure of the site. Even the bricks will be gone in a few short years. As the economy crumbles so does the Packard. Explorers, graffiti artists and scrap thieves all leave their mark on the factory as they come and go. Recently, the sale of the famous marble doorway at auction has given hope that eventually the epic saga of this once mighty factory will come to a close…one way or another.
		Standing over Grand Circus Park like a brooding dark mass, the Broderick Tower is an epic symbol of loss and despair for the Detroit historic community. Abandoned over a decade ago, the 32-floor tower sits on the edge of a defunct park. Its noble presence calls to urban explorers and those who are captivated by the site of towering decay and immense blight. Dusty, painted windows leave passersby with only a slight glimpse of the abandoned treasures that lie inside. Doctor’s equipment and law records are heaped in piles throughout the building. Amazing pieces of antique furniture throughout capture the looks and feel of decades past and have preserved them like a time capsule.
Long abandoned but not forgotten, The United Artist Theatre sits patiently awaiting its rehabilitation. During the 1930s this masterpiece of a theater was the chosen venue in which to premier a new movie. Built by C. Howard Crane in 1928, this movie house would become the most celebrated of all his theaters. At one time its halls resonated with the sounds of movies and people, now only the sounds of dripping water can be heard. Neglected for over two decades, this building exhibits the same familiar signs of blight as so many others from the same era: scrappers, vandals and nature all taking their devastating toll. The Spanish Gothic design is rare even in a city with an exorbitant amount of stunning architecture. Recent attempts by the owner to secure the building and fix the roof offer some hope that this gem will be polished back to shine one day soon.
		The empty hollow shell of the Michigan Central Depot is a constant reminder to Detroiters of the progress still not seen in the city. Its gloomy facade and epic design invokes different emotions in all those who lay eyes on her. My first memories of this structure were never tainted by its early existence as a mass transit hub. As a kid in high school, I took every opportunity to roam the ruins of the Michigan Central and even today I find myself as drawn to her as ever. Its future is unclear, in the hands of controversial real estate tycoon M.J. Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge and most of Mexican Towns’ eastside. The station is poised to sit at the foot of the new multi million-dollar International bridge expansion project. Its fair to say the depot may only have a few years left. Between border expansion and devastation by scrap metal thieves, the Depot’s days are numbered.
“The Big Twelve – Detroit’s Towers of Neglect” was an article published by the Detroit Free Press in 2004. This article, more than any other, set clear benchmarks for urban explorers in Detroit. Not only did it set the standard, but it also gave us goals. Even though some buildings are now forever out of reach, the list still remains with other notoriously neglected buildings filling their void. In later explorations we will cover all the buildings of the original Big Twelve, and others that we have deemed next on the list. This article will give you a good background on some of these buildings, a common starting point for the first of many future articles relating to the Big Twelve. Let onlynDetroit.com take you on an inside tour of the most neglected buildings of the city.
		This section and its commentary are inspiried by the above 2004 Detroit Free Press article.

		Once the heart old downtown Detroit, Grand Circus Park has become a desolate graveyard of skyscrapers. Shaped like a crescent moon, the park is divided in the middle by Woodward Avenue. The buildings that surround the park were once filled with offices, residences, theaters, and at one-point even hotels. These buildings are now highly secured. Owners of The David Whitney building have even responded to scrappers by posting 24-hour security outside. The owners of the Broderick Tower are in the process of raising cash from advertising revenue to turn the tower into lofts and retail space. Glimpses of progress however have already been seen in the renovations of the Kales Building and the Capital Theater, now the Detroit Opera House. Both Washington Ave and Broadway streets, which intersect the parkway, have also been transformed leaving the park as the next logical step in the city’s redevelopment efforts.

The Adams Theater & Fine Arts Buildings were demolished this past summer to clear room for more development in the Grand Circus Park area. The Buildings, which were owned by the Illich Family and their Illich Holdings Company, posed a significant safety problem for the city and its citizens. The Fine Arts Building, which was both very old and very dilapidated, were virtually teetering on the brink of collapse. A decision was made and the buildings were torn down. The only remnant of this pair of buildings now is the massive cobblestone and brick façade of the Fine Arts. Having to be propped up with a steel support structure, the seven-story face is the only reminder of the buildings that stood here for nearly one hundred years. The Illich’s have no plans in the works yet but have taken steps to keep as much of this historic frontage as possible.

		The Metropolitan Building is one of the most spectacularly crafted pieces of architecture in this entire city. It has also been of great fascination to me since I discovered it back in high school. Years later I would have my first chance to explore this great neo-gothic relic. The one time centerpiece of Detroit’s diamond district has been abandoned sine the 1970. Well sealed for most of that time the Metropolitan experienced a period of a couple years of wide open access around 2002, in which much of the building was vandalized and scrapped for its metals. The outer façade has begun to crumble in areas where large trees have now taken root. Despite developments in the area no architecture firms have taken much interest in the site. Go exploring with us as we uncover the dark secrets of the Metropolitan Building.