The Historic Unitarian Church on Woodward Ave. and Edmund St is on Fire. Who could do such a thing to that beautiful pink sandstone building?
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The Historic Unitarian Church on Woodward Ave. and Edmund St is on Fire. Who could do such a thing to that beautiful pink sandstone building?
Image from Detroitubex Facebook page
https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...23292481_o.jpg
Yeah, I saw the flames from near Cass Tech about 30 minutes ago. Is this the church building that was vacant, stripped, and deteriorated, or the one next to it?
Dang. That's not just a fire bug, someone wanted that gone.
It's not the pink one that's on fire; it's the brown one on the other side of Edmund Place. The pink one is the Presbyterian Church; the other one to the south is the Unitarian church that is abandoned.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...9112636&type=3
Here are the pictures via Detroiturbex. The church is a complete loss. I don't understand why the owner couldn't just sell it. :mad:
the message you have entered is to short Attachment 23473
its a national historic landmark...i say it should be preserved in-situ kind of like they do in Europe with old bombed-out churches. stabilize the outer walls and let it be a monument.
that'll fix the jackass owner's wagon. [[if indeed he was the one who arsonated it to get rid of it, as has been suggested)
according to this guy the original Tiffany-style windows of the church are on display in the DIA
This really disturbs my Unitarian Universalist heart.
I hate this city
A nice idea but you can't have the 2016-17 Red Wings fans suffering from burning, bloody, fiery eyes at the sight of such an eyesore [[as they'll bemoan). :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by WaCoTS
ok, so put a sign out front that says it is the ruins of the historic old Olympia Stadium that was bombed by the Nazis in WWII. 60% of them would never know the difference, and will be taking selfies in front of it in no time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Khartoum
What's wrong with suburban Red Wings fans! They don't want to be in a shelled out, burnt down, tagged up neighborhood?
If someone wants to de-blight a Detroit neighborhood they must be an elitist exo-burbanite!
Guess they need more parking for that fancy new arena they're getting such a sweetheart deal on. What a shame!
What a shame, how old was the church?
There was no graffiti on that church and it seemed to be structurally sound. I wonder who would profit from such a heinous act? Hmmm....Quote:
Originally Posted by 48307
The historic church is long gone. Let the demolition begin.
125 years young.Quote:
Originally Posted by EASTSIDE CAT 67-83
Designed by Donaldson & Meier. First Unitarian Church of Detroit 2870 Woodward Avenue built in 1890 First Unitarian-Universalist Church Historic District Detroit, MI. Includes images from the Inland Architect and Burton Historical Collection circa 1900 and 1915.
this church probably does not have structural stone walls--they are probably curtain walls, meaning that preserving it as a ruin wouldnt be as practical, but, food for thought:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/73...d3b44f9b74.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--NEipqkBQF...1;[10).JPG
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...vc8H5KH5XxaO_P
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...eiQg7ZHaH0RRFQ
hey, whaddya know--our very own ForgottenDetroit speaks on the topic:
http://www.forgottendetroit.com/blog/?p=188
by now it is painfully obvious that people do come to detroit expecting to view ruins. why not give them what they want? it doesnt have to be a negative portrayal.
Ironic that this came so soon after the demolition of the nearby Temple Hotel. As I wrote about on the Temple Hotel thread, the original and longtime [[from 1864 to his death in 1898) resident of the house that became the hotel was Albert G. Boynton. He was a lawyer, judge, co-owner of the Free Press, and its political editor for 25 years. The Boynton school and neighborhood on the southwest side are named for his wife, Frances.Quote:
Originally Posted by p69rrh51
He was also a Unitarian, a trustee of the congregation, and was the person in charge of the building of this church. He was the one who chose Donaldson & Meier as the architects, approved their plans, and managed the fundraising and budget to get it built.
A very sad loss. Judge Boynton's revenge? Ilitch's parking clearance program? A timely insurance claim? Or just the type of accident that often befalls old empty buildings?
also, if you've ever been thru the Upper Peninsula, they have Keweenaw Heritage Sites managed by the National Park Service, and one of them is an old mine location where the old ruined stone blg shells have been cleaned up and stabilized, and you can walk around in them.
http://www.quincymine.com
i think there's actually several places like that up there. like the Upper Peninsula, Detroit has nothing but a surplus of open spaces and old crumbling historic blgs that no one is about to do anything with. might as well curate the ruins as a public attraction...i mean this is a structure that is on the Nat'l Historic Register, and is under investigation as an arson after the owner allegedly failed to get demolition permission. seems like you could dissuade more people from torching their blgs like this if A) you were able to pin arson on them, and B) if there were rules in place requiring a landmark blg must be considered for preservation as a standing ruin in the event of a fire, especially a suspected arson.
From Street View [[September 2013) it doesn't look like it was in very good shape. Not just the roof but the stonework too.
Adorable architecture though.
Sad loss. That church had architecture.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny
This might sound paradoxical, but the development of the new arena actually would have been a reason for that historic church to be saved and redeveloped [[had today's fire not happened).
Without development across the street, i.e., the arena, there would be no development in the area and hasn't been and the church would have continued to degrade.
Once development begins structures will be evaluated. Some will be lost, e.g., Temple Hotel, but some will be saved.
Leaving structures unoccupied and not maintained for decades is not a historic preservation strategy.
Something needs to be done to stop the decline.
Because we all know hockey fans love attending Unitarian Services prior to/following hockey games. That's why the JLA area is flooded with Unitarian churchgoers.Quote:
Originally Posted by emu steve
Mine too. This church was top of my list of places to see when I was in Detroit for a weekend on 2014.Quote:
Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast
Too late for that. I heard that all the outer walls have now collapsed and the church is a pile of rubble.Quote:
Originally Posted by WaCoTS
I got to see it from afar, heading south on Woodward earlier today.. only could get a little bit south of MLK/Mack before the police blocked off access..
That's an idiotic statement even for you. There are plenty of ways to repurpose a church other than as a place of worship. Besides, there's already a great UU church in midtown.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bham1982
Could you give us one of these "plenty of ways" to repurpose that are based on arrival of a hockey arena?Quote:
Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast
FWIW, the city wanted to demo the building back in 2007.
Attachment 23484
Would have been a great microbrewery-restaurant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bham1982
http://www.churchbrew.com/
There's the great repurpose of a church into a restaurant in Clarkston... Would be a huge plus for pre and post game activity across the three stadia/arenas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bham1982
http://clarkstonunion.com/#!/about.html
If they don't want to be here, then they should go somewhere else. I have it on good authority that the suburbs contain establishments known as "sports bars" in which televised sporting events can be viewed in a pleasantly blight-free environment.Quote:
Originally Posted by 48307
This would allow me to enjoy my shelled out burnt down tagged up neighborhood in peace without a bunch of drunken fuckheads tromping through it.
How to repurpose a church? It's Midtown-- turn it all into luxury loftominiums!
I don't know how long that church has been vacant, but it has looked empty for around ten years or do. There were always vagrants hanging around outside, between that church and the other one next door. When walking from WSU to downtown, I would avoid that particular side of the street.
Clarkston! Home of "Made In Detroit" products! Actually, the food is pretty good there. And yes, they did a great job repurposing that church. But as we all know "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown".Quote:
Originally Posted by ptero
I was just in one last week during my trip to NYC. John's Pizza in the Theater District.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bham1982
http://media.silive.com/advance/phot...8557-large.jpg
And what could be more pleasing to hockey fans [[or pretty much everyone else, for that matter) than a church full of pizza and beer?
Was the organ removed from the church when it closed so many years ago? I hope it was not destroyed in the fire. I thought I read that a group was removing it, but I do not recall the time frame envolved.
What is interesting if it someone would have bought and redeveloped it and to compete head to head with Hockeytown?Quote:
Originally Posted by EastsideAl
Nice site for pre-game eats and near a M-1 stop [[correct)?
Well, it was abandoned by the Unitarians. If it was important to the denomination, they should have kept it fixed up and occupied.Quote:
Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast
Yup, the 48202 Corporation LLC should have bought it and invested the money to open an microbrewery-restaurant.Quote:
Originally Posted by 48202
Good old DetroitYes, always ready to spend OPM.
The old Navy chapel in San Diego was converted into the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center. The facility is small and certain displays [[conflicts) are rotated, however it is a beautiful facility.
Attachment 23486
I was thinking the same thing. This building would have made a great brewery and restaurant. I know Atwater was looking for more space a while back. Oh well. Another historic Detroit building bites the dust.Quote:
Originally Posted by 48202
I am sad that this abandoned church was destroyed.
It was in an ideal location and had real historic value and potential for redevelopment.
I can say none of that for the Temple Hotel. [[Actually the Temple Hotel was in the way).
To be fair, the church was abandoned by one of the successor congregations to the Unitarians.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hermod
The Unitarians left the building in 1934 when the city's widening of Woodward Ave. forced them to move. The widening cut off the front of the church and diminished its capacity, as the area behind the front facade had to be cut out and the facade moved back over 100 ft. So, they moved in with the Universalist Church of Our Father at Cass and Prentis [[built 1916, also designed by Donaldson & Meier) and soon thereafter the two congregations merged as First Unitarian-Universalist [[their national churches united in 1951). My parents were married in that church while students at Wayne. The congregation remains there today.
The church on Woodward was sold to the Church of Christ in 1937. The Church of Christ remained there until 1984. The building went through a number of congregations [[Cathedral of Praise Baptist, the Church in the City) before it was finally abandoned by the Resurrection Praise Church in the early 2000s.
How much would a lot in Brush Park cost?
Interesting historyQuote:
Originally Posted by EastsideAl
Incidentally, 3 beautiful John LaFarge windows from this church, that were removed way back in 1936 for the widening of Woodward, are in the DIA.
http://kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/23/...9_la_farge.jpg
More pictures and more on the windows from our friend Pinehurst19475:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/712887...n/photostream/
A lot more background from the Michigan Stained Glass Census:
http://www.michiganstainedglass.org/...h=05&year=2002
John LaFarge bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_LaFarge
I was afraid that another LaFarge window, dedicated to the aforementioned Judge Albert G. Boynton, had gone down with the church. As it remained in place in the church into the late 1980s. But it appears to have been removed to a private collection in Virginia.
Attachment 23487
How sad a beautiful old building destroyed.
Grand Rapids and Pittsburgh both have very successful bars in old churches. And hockey fans love to drink.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bham1982
They could always move a old Catholic church building in that area, alot are sitting and rotting away,
I spent many a Sunday morning in this building, during its incarnation as The Church in the City. A good number of Tuesday and Wednesday nights, too, in the upper room. Wore a few hats supporting the place...it might've been my first gig working a mixing board, come to think of it.
While it has always nagged me what could have been in that building, as the rotting hulk begged for rejuvenation...there are too many lovely nostalgic memories masking the fact this was the last church building I ever willingly entered. Miracles happened in this place.
We were a mile or so from it on Sunday for a late Zeff's breakfast...but I was home before I realized I hadn't even considered driving by...it will be way too painful for me to see this old building gone. The memories forged within it are flying through my mind now...
A little history from The Night Train:
http://nighttraintodetroit.com/2014/...t-nov-29-1890/
The Stunning Second Lives of 10 Repurposed Houses of Worship and Occult PracticeQuote:
Originally Posted by Bham1982
http://flavorwire.com/456668/the-stu...avorwireSocial
I [[now) wonder what would have been successful at that site.Quote:
Originally Posted by rjlj
Originally, it was placed [[built) in the middle of a faith community so the location was appropriate.
It is now just north of the new arena site. Let's assume it becomes an eatery of sorts. Whatever you imagine.
Who would patronize it? Only folks attending events at the new arena? [[not many folks will be parking north of the Fisher, only say in a parking garage or two which gets built for the arena).
Would folks attending a Tigers game, who will now be parking south of the Fisher, walk a 1/2 mile from their car to patronize it? I doubt it. Its savior might be the M-1 rail. Folks could M-1 it if the place became an 'it' place to go.
The big winner in the new-arena-is-coming and folks got to eat is Hockeytown. Great location for fans to visit in conjunction with hockey games, baseball games, etc.
Who cares about "repurposing" old buildings. Do what we do in Detroit, spray paint them, scrap them, burn them, then build new crappy POS. Stupid forward thinkers. [[he says sarcastically)Quote:
Originally Posted by rjlj
They should sell the bricks from the church.
I don't think the people who patronize Slows, Mercury Burger Bar, Sinbad's, and many other establishments before games worry too much about the location. As long as it's safe, they can park and there is good, reasonably priced food, they will patronize the business. For the longest time there wasn't a parking lot in Corktown for the people patronizing the Slows/Mercury/Astro area and they still came in droves.
On a side note, another repurposed church [[and one of my favorite places to eat) is the Freemason Abbey in Norfolk, VA.Quote:
Originally Posted by emu steve
http://www.freemasonabbey.com/index....lls-could-talk
I heard that they were already available at the location as we speak;)Quote:
Originally Posted by GUSHI
Agree. It's actually required where I live in order to get a demo permit. A building will be torn down and the bricks neatly stacked. Sometimes they'll return on site and be used in the future building as non-structural brick. But before they are reused, they are stored away in a secure place and then cleaned before being shipped back.Quote:
Originally Posted by GUSHI
Who was the last owner? Can't see why homeless people would have started this blaze, if people believe that. Definitely arson. So, again, who owned it? That person or group has everything to gain from it being torn down.
I agree with Royce. If its in the Historical Register or whatever that makes it hard to demo right? Owner is sitting on a piece of real estate right across the street from the site of the new arena and right up the street from 2 more stadiums. Up until now its been a rough neighborhood but a great location. It would have made a lovely restaurant/bar. Owner was probalby conveniently out of town when it happened. Probably was started by the homeless. Homeless on their payroll.
Isn't that breaking one of the 10 comandmentsQuote:
Originally Posted by Vic01
Stopped by the site last evening. A dozen or so folks scavenging for souvenirs and taking photos.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vic01
Looks like some bricks have been put aside for future use [[stacked on a palette and shrinkwrapped). But most will likely be disposed of as they are not reusable.
FYI...
The Last Service: A memorial for First Unitarian Church
Sunday, May 18, 7:30 pm at the church site
Preservation Detroit, along with community partners, will hold a final non-denominational service at the site of the church [[2860 Woodward Ave., at Woodward and Edmund Pl.). The event is intended to provide closure to the community and to honor the building's 124-year history.
A candlelight vigil will be accompanied by music and readings, including a speech that was given at the first service of First Unitarian in 1890.
The event is free to the public and will be held rain or shine.
https://www.facebook.com/events/653084928078283/
The news said they expected a few dozen...but there were more than a hundred people out for the wake for what I knew as the Church in the City...as the Sun set over the pile of rubble that used to be the First Unitarian Church of Detroit.
I figure it was half a lifetime ago when I was there last, which I learned during the ceremony coincided with the 100th anniversary of the building. After the sweet memorial, which included a small New Orleans' Style jazz band and a talk by both the current pastor of the Unitarian Church near Wayne State and the head of Detroit Preservation [[I think, don't get down on me if I'm wrong, we were late getting there, which continued my trend of non-timeliness with every church service or meeting I ever had in the place...we used to joke that Pentecostal meant at least five minutes late)...the group began wandering up the pile of bricks and large redstone that used to wrap the outside of this marvelous structure.
I couldn't believe it, but some went all the way up...while I searched for anyone who might've had news of them finding the cornerstone. Might've been some cool stuff in there from 1889.
I had flashbacks, while looking at the last remaining portion of the building, which I estimated was the hallway between the sanctuary and the secondary building. There was some I-beam construction here that must've been an addition, everything else was brick and stone and wood...I wonder if there was originally space behind the big tower between the buildings that they filled around the time of the other modifications when Woodward Avenue was widened.
I spent probably two years in this place, roughly half a lifetime ago...I was in my mid-twenties when I went to the Church in the City. Got there just as Tim Dilena was leaving to start the Revival Tabernacle in the old porno theater on Woodward near Six Mile...he was a big part of the creation of the Church in the City, and may have moved to NYC to fill David Wilkerson's shoes after that popular pastor passed away a few years ago.
That chapter of this building's history can claim lineage back to the old story the Cross & the Switchblade...about Wilkerson's move to NYC to evangelize young gang members in the late 50s or so.
I have so much on my mind about this tonight...I'll sign off now that I've already spoken too much. Suffice to say, it was great seeing my and my gal's favorite people with Detroit Preservation...and the rest of the fine folk who came out on a Sunday night to say goodbye to an old building. We then went to Grand Trunk, where we were deluged with the remnants of a convention of people who want to preserve America's Main streets...that was a little too contrary even for me to ponder...having just left this funeral for a church on Detroit's main street.
I propose the owner be forced to make it into a park, with a huge brick labyrinth made out of the bricks and stone...in the same mode and scale as the famous one in the cathedral of Chartres. Create a place of contemplative beauty in the middle of the new hockey zone. It'll be necessary there soon.
Cheers
Sure would like to know what happened to the cornerstone of this building.
Does anyone know what happened with the arson investigation? Were any charges eventually laid?
How does one follow up on the arson charge?
This came up in conversation tonight, so I had to search it out to see how long ago it happened.
In the re-read, I realized that Ptero mentioned the converted church up in Clarkston...which I also have history within, back when Clarence Catallo and his family lived there. His son remains one of my favorite hifi retail stories. Back then, the last of the church members still met in the half of what wasn't made into residential.
Yep, years ago I remember signage in front of the church by Comerica: "Pray for our Tigers".Quote:
Originally Posted by Bham1982
Maybe a sign in front of this church, had it not burnt: "Pray that our Pistons come home" :)