Is this building abandoned? [[Temple of Odd Fellows building Monroe & Randolph)

[Gistok]

So they're going to wall over that beautiful Roman archway on the right side of the first floor with a round BWW emblem.............YUK!!!!

[Ravine]

Maybe if you & some of your crew urge them to not do so, they'll come up with an alternative plan. Seriously. Maybe they haven't really given the matter all that much thought.

[Gannon]

There are several offices in there [[I think JC Beal), and I see people coming in and out on a regular basis.

So the strikers ARE spelling Beal correctly...I only knew of a Beale in real estate, and had been joking with my girlfriend about it.

I remember when the back of this building fell off...we took pictures of it and surely made a thread here...


Cheers

p.s.: I just saw the link to that old thread. Digivision and I went back at lunchtime, that was fun reading my post afterwards. Hard to believe that was almost four years ago.

[mikefmich]

So they're going to wall over that beautiful Roman archway on the right side of the first floor with a round BWW emblem.............YUK!!!!

I'm with you. Great to see a business move in but do they have to bastardize the lower floor facade of a 134 yr old bldg?

[Whitehouse]

Why don't they use that Bufalo Wings sign to block the gap between odd fellows and the barbour shop on the left? The space the building left when it was demolished could be filled in with that.

[Gistok]

Maybe if you & some of your crew urge them to not do so, they'll come up with an alternative plan. Seriously. Maybe they haven't really given the matter all that much thought.

The only part of the first floor facade that is still likely part of the original building... and you're questioning if architects/building owners have given it any thought?

[j to the jeremy]

The only part of the first floor facade that is still likely part of the original building... and you're questioning if architects/building owners have given it any thought?

I think it's very likely that they made a quick mock up based on some national design directive for "urban" BWW's, and didn't really think about preservation yet. I bet the final product will look quite different than in that rendering.

[DLife]

What was between the barber shop and the Odd Fellows building?

[Gistok]

I think it's very likely that they made a quick mock up based on some national design directive for "urban" BWW's, and didn't really think about preservation yet. I bet the final product will look quite different than in that rendering.

By the look of their rendering, it looks like they would just cover over the fancy arch entry. That wouldn't be so bad, since future uses could uncover what's underneath. There's a lot of buildings [[like over by the 2 coney's) that have simple corregated metal covering what is still underneath.

That's the kind of remodeling job that one doesn't mind, since it can be "undone". But it's butcher jobs like the Boulevard Building [[NE corner Woodward E. Grand Blvd.) where they ripped out much of Albert Kahn's fine terra cotta work that galls me. That brutalist building is God awful.

In the 1950s they did something similar to old ornate movie palaces.... they put huge sections of drapery over the plasterwork as a cheap way to cover up the work "so you won't have to look at all that old stuff anymore". Unfortunately they didn't take that "cheap route" with the old Fisher Theatre in 1960-61... they ripped out all the old plasterwork to shrink down the ttheatre to 2/3 of its' size...

[Neilr]

The Odd Fellows Hall is a part of the Randolph Street Commercial Historic District. From the Cityscape Detroit web site:

Randolph Street Commercial Buildings Historic District
[[N) The Randolph Street Commercial Buildings are architecturally significant as a rare surviving Victorian commercial streetscape in the heart of Detroit?s retail district. The interesting range of buildings include several Victorian Italianate designs, a rare survivor of the 1840's, and a 1920's marble storefront structure. Although the buildings have been continuously altered over the years at the first floor level and two had new top stories added, they retained their characteristic Victorian brickwork and metal window hoods. The cornices were removed in the 1950's as a result of the city sponsored cornice removal program.

http://www.cityscapedetroit.org/historic_districts.php

So I expect that there will be some protection for what's left of the Victorian facade.

[Brock7]

What was between the barber shop and the Odd Fellows building?

Another Victorian building - see the photos in post #11.

Detroit News 1950 photos - Flagg Bros.
1928 directory - Raab Bros clothing 1218 Randolph [[or maybe W L Douglas Shoe Co, 1212 Randolph.)
Shorpy 1919 photo an News 1924 photos - Enogass Jewelry
1895 directory - Herber Bros, saloon, 218 Randolph.
1885 directory - Irion F & J W [[Frederick and John W), Proprs Atlantic Garden Saloon and Billiard Parlor, and Cigar Mnfrs, 218 Randolph.
1875 directory - Gambrinus & Bacchus Hall, Wm Amrhein Propr, 218 Randolph. [[See adv).

BTW here's what's listed on the block in the 1895 directory:

Monroe av [[67) intersects
n e cor Hotel Ste Claire
Miami av [[5) commences.
212-216 Huckestein John P, dry goods
214 Odd Fellows' Temple
" Knights of Pythias Castle
" Det. Lock & Mnfg Co
" Acker and Gartenbau Zeitung
" Michigan Journal and Herold [[semi-weekly)
" Coleman E W, publr
" Wunsch H, real estate
" Wunsch & Noack, ins
" Detroit Brewers' Assn
214 Michigan Brewers' and Malsters' Assn
218 Herber Bros, saloon
220 Laitner Casimir
222 Jahn Ferdinand. saloon
" Kittelberger's Hall
224 Schneider Carl, saloon
226 Wieneke P, gents' furn
228-230 Salz & Gnau, dry goods
Macomb st [[12) commences

Here's the listing from the 1928 directory. I think Odd Fellows Temple has three addresses assigned by this time and that 1228 corresponds to the old 222 address.

Monroe av intersects
n e cor Hotel Ste Claire
Postal Harry F
1202 National Shirt Shops Inc
1206 Glass & Karr pawnbrokers
1208 Odd Fellows Temple
Smith C A dentist
1212 Douglass W L Shoe Co
1216 More Bros Inc clo
1218 Raab Bros clo
1220 Hub Clothing Co
1228 Feltman & Curme Shoe Store Co [[br)
1234 Bowles Lunch Co [[br)
1236 Goldfinger Saml men's furngs
1238 Rogers Bros Tailoring Co
1240 Newark Shoe Stores Co
1244 Liggets Drug Store [[br)
P O Station No 53
Koploy & Ross radio supplies
Macomb intersects

[Brian1979]

The Buffalo Wild Wings in Lincoln Park [[Chicago) looks like they only have one floor, this is also in a three floor building. I've never been to this BWW, it's about a mile or so south of Wrigley Field in a pretty dense neighborhood though.

[dbc]

Brian1979:

Wow, that picture brings back memories. I spent many a night there when i lived in Chicago back in the mid-nineties. As far as i know, the bar is only on the first floor. Great place, though...love the beer and wings.

[Brian1979]

Brian1979:

Wow, that picture brings back memories. I spent many a night there when i lived in Chicago back in the mid-nineties. As far as i know, the bar is only on the first floor. Great place, though...love the beer and wings.

I'm in Chicago constantly and have never been there so I'm not real sure but I'll take your word for it. I know exactly where this BWW is located so it wouldn't be hard for me to pay it a visit, just parking in LP is another story. I would hope that the one in downtown Detroit is going to look like this. I think it'll look more like this than any renderings I've seen to this point.

I'm usually frequenting Schaller's Pump on the Southside.

[EastsideAl]

My maternal grandfather was an Odd Fellow, and my grandmother was active in their women's organization, the Rebekahs. My mother went to, and worked at, the Odd Fellows camp up north.

Grandpa was a member of the west side lodge, which if I remember correctly was out on Grand River somewhere [[though by the time I really knew him he was living in Florida), so he wasn't really involved in activities in the downtown building.

However, that was the central lodge for the Detroit area IOOF [[Independent Order of Odd Fellows), so he had visited there for meetings, ceremonies, etc. According to him, the Odd Fellows lodge on the upper floors had a lot of beautiful dark woodwork and several rooms decorated for various IOOF ceremonial activities, including an "enthronement room" with a large hand-carved wood throne in it.

[EastsideAl]

Nice to see the building used again, but that Buffalo Wild Wings rendering looks garish and nasty. Let's hope somebody uses some sense, particularly since this is one of the older historic buildings downtown, and makes it look more like that Chicago store.