Lafayette Building Demolition

**buildingsofdetroit** · February-23-10, 10:08 PM

Heads up, team. Just talked to Mr. Excavator driver [[same guy who brought down the northern elevation a few weeks ago), and he said they are PUSHING the eastern tower wall IN toward Shelby at 1 A.M. TONIGHT. If you want to see a spectacular, though incredibly sad, moment in Detroit history, I'd get to the Lafayette site by midnight. BuildingsofDetroit.com will be there braving the elements to document it, but it really is an awe-inspiring site seeing so much building - and history - come down in a gigantic dust cloud.

**hubbardfarmer** · February-23-10, 10:12 PM

Please wear a mask! Who knows what is in that dust cloud?

**old guy** · February-23-10, 10:26 PM

operator, he's an excavator operator. If I was there I'd buy you a beer, buildings. Good luck.

**old guy** · February-23-10, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by Russix

Crews are blocking the street on the westside of the building. Will this be a crushed rock or paved parking lot?

Wow, August 13th.

**staticstate** · February-24-10, 01:50 AM

great coverage guys... sad day.

**buildingsofdetroit** · February-24-10, 05:44 PM

Here's my raw footage from last night's collapse. It falls at the 1:15 mark. GSGeorge and several other friends were up there shooting video from multiple vantage points, so we're going to do a nice, edited video soon. Figured those who didn't brave the cold might want to see what they missed, though, so here's the uncut version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVvMgsdLF4U

**old guy** · February-24-10, 06:24 PM

Did you manage to get undercover this time? Nice shot.

**mikeg19** · February-28-10, 02:18 PM

Anybody get still frame pictures of the before and after of the collapse?

And what is Adamo's time line of removing the rest of the building and removing the debris? Probably before spring I'd assume.

**j32885** · February-28-10, 11:11 PM

I'm glad I got my picks of Lafayette Building, before they started the demo.

R.I.P. Lafayette Building

**Hermod** · March-01-10, 11:07 AM

Wrecking ball in action. Enjoy this one.

http://www.funnyvideoandimage.com/vi...ng-Carflv.html

**buildingsofdetroit** · March-01-10, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

Anybody get still frame pictures of the before and after of the collapse?

And what is Adamo's time line of removing the rest of the building and removing the debris? Probably before spring I'd assume.

I did. Unfortunately, the after shots didn't turn out great cuz the lens was coated in dust. Tried to clean it the best I could, but ...
I'll add them to BuildingsofDetroit.com soon under the Lafayette Bldg. demo gallery.

**buildingsofdetroit** · March-01-10, 07:51 PM

Here's our finished video with views from FOUR angles. Big thanks to gsgeorge for sharing his shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czZ4sxmO5Gg

**mikeg19** · March-01-10, 11:45 PM

Just a thought....Did they evacuate the coney island before hand? They are 24 hours. How could they not have? They couldn't 100% guarantee that every piece of the building was going to fall forward. I think we've all seen the demolition mishaps on Youtube.

**buildingsofdetroit** · March-01-10, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

Just a thought....Did they evacuate the coney island before hand? They are 24 hours. How could they not have? They couldn't 100% guarantee that every piece of the building was going to fall forward. I think we've all seen the demolition mishaps on Youtube.

Well, Lafayette Coney was closed by then. American was still open, though. In fact, went there afterward to clean Lafayette dust out of my camera equipment and sip on Diet Pepsi.

**buildingsofdetroit** · March-05-10, 10:27 PM

All that remains. Photo taken about 3 p.m. March 5:

http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/si...-lafayette.jpg

**LeannaM** · March-05-10, 10:35 PM

What a shame.

**mikeg19** · March-06-10, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by buildingsofdetroit

All that remains. Photo taken about 3 p.m. March 5:

http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/si...-lafayette.jpg

Any other angles of the remains? And what is the timetable for the removal of the debris?

**wolverine** · March-06-10, 02:39 AM

Man, that just looks really bad. Empty lots and parking garages with a few nice buildings here and there. What a mess. Detroit's never looked worse.

Retroit · March-06-10, 12:48 PM

One unexpected result [[for me, anyway) is that the view of existing buildings has improved. One thing I don't like about tall buildings is that it is often hard to appreciate them because you can't really get a good overall view of them since they are usually surrounded by other tall buildings. This drives me nuts when I'm taking pictures.

**wolverine** · March-06-10, 01:22 PM

^ You could get the same experience in Troy or Southfield. Why not take pictures there? They have the exact same character of urbanity that you are describing and desire.

Retroit · March-06-10, 01:36 PM

^ WTF? Why would I want to take a picture of those ugly buildings? Isn't it possible to like pre-Modern architecture and also dislike the fact that building a lot of tall buildings close together prevents the visual appreciation of those buildings?

**buildingsofdetroit** · March-08-10, 03:17 AM

Drove by the Lafayette tonight, and the last of her is down. Not sure whether it happened late Saturday or earlier Sunday. Regardless, nothing but rubble. Not an inch of her still stands.

**wolverine** · March-08-10, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by Retroit

^ WTF? Why would I want to take a picture of those ugly buildings? Isn't it possible to like pre-Modern architecture and also dislike the fact that building a lot of tall buildings close together prevents the visual appreciation of those buildings?

You obviously missed my sarcasm. Disliking blocked street level views of taller buildings pretty much means you dislike density in cities. What else needs to be demolished to enhance your picture taking?

**leland_palmer** · March-08-10, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by buildingsofdetroit

Drove by the Lafayette tonight, and the last of her is down. Not sure whether it happened late Saturday or earlier Sunday. Regardless, nothing but rubble. Not an inch of her still stands.

I have a couple of photos from Saturday evening and Sunday morning. I'll try to put them up tonight.

**casscorridor** · March-08-10, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by wolverine

You obviously missed my sarcasm. Disliking blocked street level views of taller buildings pretty much means you dislike density in cities. What else needs to be demolished to enhance your picture taking?

Downtown Detroit was designed, intentionally or not, to provide stunning vistas of all the major skyscrapers from various points. This is possibly in part due to the Woodward street plan and all those angled streets. From street level on Grand River in Paradise Valley you can see Broderick Tower, Book Tower and Stott Tower beautifully. There are many more points like this. And go a few floors up in many buildings and you can basically see every skyscraper. I actually always though Detroit was better in this respect than many cities. What continues to be a major problem though, is the lack of a continuous street wall. These exist in some places still, and it doesn't hamper views at all, but in many other places they don't exist, and you see parking lot after parking lot. What do you see next to lots with parking lots? No people. What do you see on the street next to occupied buildings? People. It doesn't take much to get a lot of people on the sidewalk. East Grand River is vibrant during the whole business day. Shoppers, residents, and workers all co-mingling to make it a great area, a real community. Why? Because there have been some smart landlords who decided they'd rather have occupied storefronts and apartments and offices than empty buildings and empty and lonely sidewalks. That can never happen with empty parking lots, until a new building is built. And I wouldn't expect many new buildings to built anytime soon. Sorry, Lafayette lot will be a lot for years to come. Street traffic in front of it? Only if if its from the Book? A "pocket park"? who the fuck would go to that park when Campus Martius is literally a block away?