The old government building was once a jewel of Downtown but now its luster has faded and its fate is uncertain. In recent weeks and months the city has taken steps that suggest demolition is on the near horizon. The drama and the demise of the Lafayette are well-documented and its woes range from mismanagement to sheer neglect. This celebrated wonder built by renowned architect C. Howard Crane is a testament to the saying ”they just don’t build em’ like that anymore”. Even for Detroit, the Lafayette is a peculiar building; with subdued details and aristocratic allure it looks like one of the many theaters in the Grand Circus Park district. Roman pillars accent the upper two floors on all but the east side of the building. Standing at attention like a military regiment, the terra cotta stones called “fleur de lis”, which means “flower of the lily”, line the edge of the roof like a crown. It’s no wonder so much debate has taken place over its fate.

Crane’s plans for the construction included a new V-shaped design, a first in the country for an office building. The split wedge design allowed for the capture of most of the afternoon and evening light. It also gave each office its own view to the street below. Many of the lobbies and hallways were made of polished marble. Carved into the marble were the building’s numerous drinking fountains. They were placed near the main bank of elevators at the structure’s pinnacle were both wedges meet. Originally, the elevators were decorated in brass and bronze, and embroidered with bright colors. Said to have cost anywhere between two and three million, the Lafayette was no doubt a premier office building of its time.

The location of the Lafayette building was ideal because of its proximity to the Federal Courthouse, also on Lafayette Boulevard. The building’s lower three floors were home to an array of different businesses that served the everyday passersby Well-known local retailer Henry the Hatter and Walters Pipes even had shops here. In 1953, when Bohn died, the building and its operations were handed over to his three children. Over the next thirty some years. the Lafayette would change ownership many times; it was even re-purchased once by the Bohn Cooperation. Statements by the family suggest that the move to re-purchase was made because of mismanagement and neglect by its owner.

During Detroit’s decline in the 1980s, the future of the Lafayette was getting grim. Though it remained the office for the Michigan State Supreme Court, the building was running into financial troubles. By 1985, the building’s owners consulted architects about possibly covering its existing terra cotta with a steel and glass exo-structure. Thankfully, this project never materialized and was abandoned in the early stages. In 1988, the building was sold once again. Soon after the Michigan State Supreme Court elected to move to a new modern facility located at Madison and Brush. In November of that year, the remaining courts and administration vacated the building, leaving just the retail businesses. In 1991, the owners notified tenants that they had fewer than 100 hours to pack up and move out of the building. The electricity bill, which was well over $30,000, had gone unpaid for far too long and the lights would soon be shut off.

Discussion of Lafayette Building Demolition

Courtesy of Detroit Today on N.P.R.

Detroit Edison agreed to try and work with tenants to keep the lights on, but only six businesses remained. In 1997, after years of litigation, Nation Wide Bank finally foreclosed on the Lafayette’s owners and the building was sealed like a tomb. But... Just like any other building in this area it would not stay sealed for very long. By the summer of 2000, it was evident that constant vandalism and scrapping were damaging the structure. The Lafayette’s problems compounded as its damaged façade was now vaunerable to erosion and weathering. The Lafayette is just one of many buildings that need to be either rehabbed or at the very least “mothballed” for future development. The city continues to do little in the way of maintaining any of the historic buildings in its downtown core. In 2004, when the Free Press ran a story about “Detroit’s Towers of Neglect”, it mentioned that trees had now been spotted growing on the roof. Even though the article was an embarrassment for the city, coverage resulted in no new developments for the building. The summer this article ran in the Free Press also happened to be the same time I had made it inside to explore for myself. I wish I could say it was a well-planed and sensible operation but I cannot say either about the experience. Like a lot of adventures in Detroit, it happened by complete chance.

We carefully stepped around the plywood door that was still partially blocking the entry. The lobby of the building was completely black and very damp. It was also at least 40 degrees colder than outside; we could probably see our breath, had we been able to see at all. The bottom three floors of the building had been sealed with heavy boards and had not seen daylight in several years, effectively making this area a limestone cooler. We didn’t spend much time on the lower floors due to the lack of sufficient lighting. Carefully we made our way up the inner staircase of the building. Reaching the fourth floor, we entered the building’s elevator area. This floor also appeared to be the main lobby for the court offices. Just outside the windows on this level you could see several small trees growing in the courtyard. Bright green moss covered the floors of this entire area and it often felt like walking on a carpet. It was very cool and damp here and I suspect it was the reason this particular floor had an abundance of moss. The third floor also housed many of the courtrooms. I was awestruck to stand in the rooms where so many had had their fate decided. I imagined the historical events that took place in these rooms and I just stood there soaking it in for a few minutes. I walked amongst the courtrooms and in and out of the jury rooms over and over again. It was truly surreal to walk the path of Detroit’s history some ten years after these places ceased to be relevant.

Electronics, calendars, books, magazines and countless other personal possessions were all left behind . Included in the things left behind were thousands of personal records of people and cases processed by the courts. People’s entire lives, or at least their entire case files were simply lying haphazardly, waiting to be found. Official seals used to notarize Michigan documents were also just lying about. Countless items of historic significance were all around but the most delicious of these historic treasures were the directory signs on every floor. The wood, metal and glass frames were detailed with the logo of the building. Most of the signs still had names of various businesses on them. I could not help myself; I collected as many of the nametags as I could find lying around on the floor by the signs. Antiques of all kinds still remain inside the building, as if inside a time capsule. Remnants from the building’s various businesses were littered about in random places. Old napkins and cups from the two Coney Islands that share the Lafayette block were everywhere. The two competing Coney Island restaurants, American Coney and Lafayette Coney Island sit side by side and both claim to be the first Coney Island in America. The Keros brothers founded Lafayette Coney in 1917. Soon after the opening, an argument led to the division of the restaurant into two parts. You can bet every Detroiter has their own opinion on who makes the better Coney dogs.

The Lafayette Building is one of the city’s most incredible hidden jewels. The historic and architectural importance of this site must warrant the city to look at alternatives other than demolition. The Lafayette's builders took much pride in giving the city a masterpiece that was as unique as Detroit and therefore, we need to keep these types of buildings around for future generations to have and to appreciate. In recent weeks the citizens of Detroit have become witnesses to an increasingly careless and ominous policy direction to demolish many historical buildings; most notably the Michigan Central Depot. By demolishing the very things that set Detroit apart from other struggling urban areas, city leaders will ultimately doom the city’s fate to that of countless surface parking lots.