New MacKenzie High School

**Detroit Stylin** · November-02-11, 07:13 PM

I am actually surprised that no one is even talking about this yet. I just rode by Wyoming and Chicago this afternoon and noticed a MAMMOTH edifice being constructed on the corner where the old Driver's Training course was located. Come to find out this is going to be the new MacKenzie-- except that it is going to be kindergarten through 9th grade. I will try to go by and take pictures tommorrow and post them...

**Rocko** · November-02-11, 09:35 PM

Is the old school gone? Will any of it be reused?

**MidTownMs** · November-02-11, 09:38 PM

Last summer I sold a house on Birwood & W.Chicago right across from the school. The people who bought the house said that was the main reason that they bought it. They have 3 year old twins and they figured that by the time they were ready for school the work would be completed.

**WaCoTS** · November-02-11, 10:59 PM

there is also a bran new school being erected on the site where they just demolished Munger Middle and Chadsey High Schools.

i dont get it.

**Detroit Stylin** · November-02-11, 11:02 PM

Originally Posted by WaCoTS

there is also a bran new school being erected on the site where they just demolished Munger Middle and Chadsey High Schools.

i dont get it.

Chadsey is gone now too? I know it was closed I didnt know they demolished it already...

**WaCoTS** · November-02-11, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Detroit Stylin

Chadsey is gone now too? I know it was closed I didnt know they demolished it already...

yeah lol...long gone. as of this summer. the new blg is almost enclosed i think

**Kevgoblue** · November-03-11, 09:39 AM

Methinks the rebuilt Mackenzie and Chadsey schools, among others, will be handed over to the for profit charter school industry soon.

Makes perfect sense. Every time a bond is passed everyone rushes in to scoop up the money, building new schools in a shrinking district. By the time the construction is finished Snyder will enact his new plan granting charters to "save" these poor performing schools.
Just another version of the tax cuts for the wealthy mindset. Get the citizens of Detroit to fund new buildings and then hand the subsidized infrastructure over to the elite connected few.

**Detroit Stylin** · November-03-11, 01:53 PM

As promised....Attachment 11086 Attachment 11087 Attachment 11088 Attachment 11089 Attachment 11090 Attachment 11091 Attachment 11092 Attachment 11093

**Detroitnerd** · November-03-11, 02:12 PM

But why stop there? You can have somebody own the building who's not even in the education business. They LEASE the property to the education company, so then you have this whole other business that profits off of the physical plant, and another layer to service the building, and another layer to [[maybe) educate the children! See how much more efficient privatization is?

**Detroit Stylin** · November-03-11, 02:13 PM

Attachment 11094 Attachment 11095 Attachment 11096 Attachment 11097 Attachment 11098 Attachment 11099

The irony of the last image is that while one building is awaiting to get windows put in Daddy Mack has had all of its windows taken out. Its almost like one is representing the beginning of its life while the other is at its end....

**Rocko** · November-03-11, 02:34 PM

So wait....are they reusing portions of Old MacKenzie [[or at least the historic facade), or are these a complication of the new construction photos and the old school prior to demolition??

**sycloneman** · November-03-11, 02:44 PM

Too bad the old version is so much more ornate and beautiful than the new. I too hope they are using parts of the old facade.

**Mark Smiles** · November-03-11, 04:54 PM

I like how the new building will have actual windows, it seems like all the schools built in the last 20 years are built to look like prisons.

**Detroit Stylin** · November-04-11, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by Rocko

So wait....are they reusing portions of Old MacKenzie [[or at least the historic facade), or are these a complication of the new construction photos and the old school prior to demolition??

No I just composed some of those to where you have both the new school and the old one in the frame so that we can see two phases of life: a beginning and an end; a birth and a death so to speak...

But i DO wish they could have incorporated some of those glazed tiles in the new school...seems like such a waste...

**sycloneman** · November-04-11, 01:51 PM

But i DO wish they could have incorporated some of those glazed tiles in the new school...seems like such a waste...

They ARE beautiful! I'm surprised they are still there! Too bad that they will end up crushed and ruined in a pile of rubble. The things that SHOULD be salvaged and even sold for the city to put some cash in its coffers.

**gazhekwe** · November-04-11, 02:15 PM

Oooh, my. I had such a good time at that school, and she was so beautiful with those tiles. Sad to see her going down like this.

**Khartoum** · November-04-11, 03:08 PM

It's still crazy to me that it's cheaper to secure & destroy an old school + construct a new school...then it is to pay the heating bills at the old school.

Crazy.

**wolverine** · November-05-11, 02:19 AM

duplicate....

**wolverine** · November-05-11, 02:22 AM

Khartoum, you are correct it is crazy. There's obviously something else doing on. I do this stuff for a living. They could have modernized the original building to be a state of the art of facility, and chose not to do so.

Originally Posted by Mark Smiles

I like how the new building will have actual windows, it seems like all the schools built in the last 20 years are built to look like prisons.

Not following, still looks like a prison to me. Alot of firms I know of are designing schools with walls ENTIRELY made of glass. And no the students do not break the windows.... This school looks like it was built in 1995. Why am I looking at an obsolete design here? Why was the original building not saved. If it was not salvageable, why am I not seeing a modern facility constructed here?

**Barbara_10** · November-05-11, 07:48 PM

They are Pewabic tiles.
They are still there because you would need a crane to remove them.
Thieves don't rent cranes.

**Kathleen** · July-22-12, 09:35 PM

Demolition of Mackenzie High School started on June 28 or 29. As of this morning, the only thing still standing is the flagpole. Nothing else! Lots of piles...brick rubble...metal...etc. I read somewhere that none of the tilework was saved. What a shame!!!

**Cincinnati_Kid** · July-22-12, 10:33 PM

Mumford is next to be torn down and build a new school, and Redford will be razed in a couple of weeks to build a Meijer's on the old site. It sure is going to look strange on the corner of 6 mile and Grand River.

**szla** · July-22-12, 11:01 PM

Always thought McKenzie was the second prettiest public hs in Detroit. I'm very saddened. I only hope Cooley can be saved. If you've never seen or it's been awhile drive by if you can. It's on Hubbell [[half mile east of Greenfield) just south of Fenkell [[5 mile).

**Cincinnati_Kid** · July-23-12, 01:53 AM

Yeah, Cooley is the best looking, a architectural gem. I hope it can be saved.

**DetroitTeacher** · July-23-12, 05:12 AM

I am shocked that Cooley still looks as good as it does, 2 years [[almost to the day) after we vacated. Someone has plans for that building...I can feel it. We were closed very quickly, we weren't on the list until the very end...after Roy Roberts' wife saw it and the auditorium and library [[she's some big wig for a charter school). I think they are waiting until everyone forgets about that little stab in the back. It was still very viable on the inside and everything except the heating and cooling was working [[we had a major roof issue but we had plans to fix that right before we were shut down...we had part of that 500 million bond money that they so rudely snatched away from us).

Originally Posted by szla

Always thought McKenzie was the second prettiest public hs in Detroit. I'm very saddened. I only hope Cooley can be saved. If you've never seen or it's been awhile drive by if you can. It's on Hubbell [[half mile east of Greenfield) just south of Fenkell [[5 mile).