Monroe Block Development

[Mackinaw]

Big fan of the conceptual shape, size, and materials. 1953 as much as I wish we had what was there before, the shape and size of this is in many ways a postmodern reinterpretation of what was there in terms of scale. Perhaps that is fitting, especially since we damn well know that we cannot re-create what was there with any integrity.

HAVING SAID THAT: we CAN keep what history still exists, thus, I call on Preservation Detroit and the many big personalities we have at the grassroots level these days to communicate with Bedrock to ensure that [[1) the entire National facade is saved, and [[2) the Pochelon's 6-story component is rehabilitated. If necessary, this will need to be taken up with City Council. I do not believe that the Pochelon is part of a Historic District [[does anyone have a list of CoD Historic District's handy? I cannot find one online though I remember seeing one in the past).

[EGrant]

Thank GOODNESS that awful, suburban mess from Meridian fell through. What a waste of potential that would have been.

[Lowell]

Another atrium pic from Bedrock...

[Detroitdave]

Does anyone have any pictures of what was On the Monroe block before the parking lot?
Of can you direct me to a Link ?
thank you

[Atticus]

I would guess that the reason for the demolition of the FTD buildings and National Theater bldg [[beyond that the latter may be beyond repair), is to accommodate a proposed underground parking garage.

If you are going to build an underground garage, it makes logistical and business sense to span it across both blocks, similar to how the Grand Circus Park garage is under two blocks. You also want to maximize the footprint of the garage without cutouts, which is what keeping the FTD and Theatre buildings would do.

For that reason, I would hope they could keep the facade at least of the FTD buildings, even if they have to tear down the building to build the garage under that site. I really believe the facade would provide a nice contrast to the more modern architecture, and help avoid the superblock effect.

[dtowncitylover]

Does anyone have any pictures of what was On the Monroe block before the parking lot?
Of can you direct me to a Link ?
thank you

I believe this block in the picture was up until the 1980s. Such a shame to lose it...

I'm also reading about it my Newspapers.com account. I wasn't alive back then, so I don't know much about it though I should. I'm beginning to think it's probably a tie for the greatest loss of a building or set of buildings lost in Detroit. Old City Hall is the other. Most of these buildings dated back before the Civil War. They all gave Monroe a good streetwall, though they were small, and potential today would be massive.

https://digitalcollections.detroitpu...ndora%3A159252

[Detroitdave]

Thank you , looks like those building fronted Monroe st.
So , I use to work in Cadillac tower, so at the edge of the building is now a street, according to that picture there was no street there? I'm assuming it was added after they tore down those buildings to the east ?

I believe this block in the picture was up until the 1980s. Such a shame to lose it...

I'm also reading about it my Newspapers.com account. I wasn't alive back then, so I don't know much about it though I should. I'm beginning to think it's probably a tie for the greatest loss of a building or set of buildings lost in Detroit. Old City Hall is the other. Most of these buildings dated back before the Civil War. They all gave Monroe a good streetwall, though they were small, and potential today would be massive.

https://digitalcollections.detroitpu...ndora%3A159252

[southen]

Here is a photo to show what im talking about.

[Detroitdave]

Ahhhhh now it makes I see ! they look similar ! Thank you for that !

Here is a photo to show what im talking about.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

I believe this block in the picture was up until the 1980s. Such a shame to lose it...

I'm also reading about it my Newspapers.com account. I wasn't alive back then, so I don't know much about it though I should. I'm beginning to think it's probably a tie for the greatest loss of a building or set of buildings lost in Detroit. Old City Hall is the other. Most of these buildings dated back before the Civil War. They all gave Monroe a good streetwall, though they were small, and potential today would be massive.
https://digitalcollections.detroitpu...ndora%3A159252

I worked in the First National in the early/mid 80’s when the Monroe Block was largely intact, albeit run down and quite vacant. To this day I think the best thing would have been to restore and reuse those historic buildings.

[401don]

I worked in the First National in the early/mid 80’s when the Monroe Block was largely intact, albeit run down and quite vacant. To this day I think the best thing would have been to restore and reuse those historic buildings.

Funny, it was run down but didn't look a whole lot different than that 1910 photo, except for being abandoned of course. While it was tragic to lose, at least it was one block of many that remain downtown. There are a lot of towns across North America that have lost similar blocks, which represented most of their historic downtowns.

[southen]

You are confusing the tower in the photos with Cadillac. In the photo in this thread Cadillac Tower has yet to be built and will eventually appear next to the 10 story building on the right part of the frame.

[EastsideAl]

The south side of Monroe was once the city's entertainment district, starting with the heyday of vaudeville and burlesque around the turn of the 20th century. The city's first movie theater was opened in 1905 on the first block between Campus Martius and Farmer, and many nickelodeons and larger movie theaters popped up in the 2 long blocks from Woodward to Randolph during the silent era. The National Theater is the last remnant of that era.

After the city's entertainment and movie center began moving north to the Grand Circus area, the Civil War-era buildings on Monroe remained active as a sort of down-market commercial street into the mid-1970s. The city then took them over and emptied all the stores in preparation for demolition to clear the block for the proposed Cadillac Center mall [[hence the name of the nearby People Mover station) that was going to cover that block and the old Kern block where Compuware now sits. The Cadillac Square [[Real Estate Exchange) Building and the Gregory, Mayer & Thom Building pictured in 1953's post above were torn down at that time, along with all of the other buildings on the block [[including the original Checker Bar, a couple of remaining gay bars, downtown's last pool hall, and the conveniently burned-out Family [[Follies) Theater at the Cadillac Sq. corner) except for Cadillac Tower and the Monroe frontage.

A years-long battle between historic preservationists and a very angry Coleman Young administration then ensued over the Monroe buildings. The preservationists had been able to get the state to declare it a state historic site, get it onto the National Registry, and to get a court order to halt any demolition. The city then boarded over all the storefronts, painted it with signs that read "Monroe Block Historic Restoration", and left it all sitting there decaying for over 10 years.

Finally in 1990, when few people were paying attention anymore and with almost no notice, the Young administration declared the buildings unsafe and quickly sent the bulldozers in to take all that old stuff down.

Here is a good Wikipedia page about the buildings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe...cial_Buildings

Here are a couple of pictures of the block near the end, in 1989:

[Detroitdave]

Ahhh Good old Coleman Young , can't see his noise despite his face. LOL
Could you imagine if he got his way and they built that mall ?
it would be closed just like Northland. Thank goodness that didn't happen.
I guess father time stops for no one. Kinda sad to see what replaced all those buildings , nothing but parking lots :-[[

The south side of Monroe was once the city's entertainment district, starting with the heyday of vaudeville and burlesque around the turn of the 20th century. The city's first movie theater was opened in 1905 on the first block between Campus Martius and Farmer, and many nickelodeons and larger movie theaters popped up in the 2 long blocks from Woodward to Randolph during the silent era. The National Theater is the last remnant of that era.

After the city's entertainment and movie center began moving north to the Grand Circus area, the Civil War-era buildings on Monroe remained active as a sort of down-market commercial street into the mid-1970s. The city then took them over and emptied all the stores in preparation for demolition to clear the block for the proposed Cadillac Center mall [[hence the name of the nearby People Mover station) that was going to cover that block and the old Kern block where Compuware now sits. The Cadillac Square [[Real Estate Exchange) Building and the Gregory, Mayer & Thom Building pictured in 1953's post above were torn down at that time, along with all of the other buildings on the block [[including the original Checker Bar, a couple of remaining gay bars, downtown's last pool hall, and the conveniently burned-out Family [[Follies) Theater at the Cadillac Sq. corner) except for Cadillac Tower and the Monroe frontage.

A years-long battle between historic preservationists and a very angry Coleman Young administration then ensued over the Monroe buildings. The preservationists had been able to get the state to declare it a state historic site, get it onto the National Registry, and to get a court order to halt any demolition. The city then boarded over all the storefronts, painted it with signs that read "Monroe Block Historic Restoration", and left it all sitting there decaying for over 10 years.

Finally in 1990, when few people were paying attention anymore and with almost no notice, the Young administration declared the buildings unsafe and quickly sent the bulldozers in to take all that old stuff down.

Here is a good Wikipedia page about the buildings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe...cial_Buildings

Here are a couple of pictures of the block near the end, in 1989:

[Chris Rohn]

Never knew the history of this block. Thank you so much for this. What a loss. Wow.

[royce]

This is a vast improvement over the scrapped Meridian development. That was an awful use of the space, especially since it did not provide a proper street wall. However, the proposed public space behind the buildings is over-kill of place-making. Any residents that live in that area should consider Campus Martius Park and Cadillac Square Park their backyards. Why duplicate another public space so close to the main place-making locales?

Also, what's this mid-rise and low-rise crap all about? The development should be a symmetrical building in that the residential development along Monroe should be the same height. Personally, I would prefer that this entire development be residential. However, if there must be an office tower, it should be either next to the Cadillac Square Building or located at the corner of Monroe and Farmer. I don't know why Dan Gilbert is so obsessed with putting an office tower in that location. Wouldn't the Hudson's site be ideal for office space that is needed? Residential and ground floor retail is what should go along Monroe/Cadillac Square, period. That's my two cents.

[Calltoaction]

Coleman Young was a fuckhead, I think we can all say that Detroit is much better with him dead and gone. Let him be hated and vilified in history.

[1953]

Hear! Hear!

*Though his defenders will tell you his first two terms weren't so bad.

[K-slice]

I used to work in 1001 with a window facing CM. Around that time I always heard people refer to the Hudson's site as "the biggest hole in downtown". This always lead me to think the Monroe block was kind of overlooked and wouldn't see any development until at least after the infamous Hudson's site. This is great news though! I have high hopes that this will be done right and the building will have a well thought out mix of retail, office, and residential space.

[Gistok]

I've been in the National Theatre back in 2000 when Preservation Wayne [[now Preservation Detroit) cleaned out many tons of fallen plasterwork on the interior. It is in very bad condition.

The earlier post showing the saving of just the facade of the National, is an acceptable alternative if nothing can be done with the interior.... HOWEVER....

.... the entire facade should be saved... they could use the window opening as a smaller size gateway arch.

The reason saving more than just the outer arch [[within the rosettes) is obvious.... the entire exterior of the National Theatre facade and towers is made of Pewabic tile... namely white and blue terra cotta.... To whack off the inner part of the arch would be a travesty.

https://sites.google.com/site/tilein...tional-theater

[Gistok]

Also the small entrance lobby of the National Theatre is decorated in tan colored Pewabic tile, which can be seen among the first photos here. This is probably the best site for how the interior of the National Theatre looks today....

http://detroit-ish.com/photos/national-theatre/

[royce]

Can't understand why that front window of the National Theater has remained open for several years. Rain, snow, and bird-droppings don't add to the decay of the building?
IMHO, the National Theater has been neglected by the city on purpose. Now, Dan Gilbert comes along and basically wants to tear it down. "No problem," says the City.

The National Theater deserves to be saved. A small concert venue like St. Andrew's Hall could be the way to go. An archway to what, sucks?

[EastsideAl]

Can't understand why that front window of the National Theater has remained open for several years. Rain, snow, and bird-droppings don't add to the decay of the building?
IMHO, the National Theater has been neglected by the city on purpose.

Ding, ding, ding!

I knew someone who was involved in he DIA's performing arts wing who, once it was owned by the city, badly wanted to gain use of the National Theater for putting on smaller musicals [[smaller than the big roadshows that the Fisher booked) and operas. The National, as a former vaudeville and burlesque house, was much better suited to this than the DIA's own theater.

Despite having private donors lined up to help pay for it, and professional theater people interested in running it, the city administration stood in his way at every turn. They also refused to keep the structure heated, pretty much ensuring that the plumbing and the plaster would be trashed, and refused to allow the roof to be inspected, pretty much ensuring that water would leak in and wreck most of the rest of it. After a few months they pulled the permission for further visits to the theater, and that spelled the end of that project.

Demolished by neglect [[who remembers that?) was the Detroit way of 'urban renewal' back then under the Young administration. It just served to add immensely to our problems and the empty lifelessness of the city, and destroyed so much [[like most of Brush Park) that we would now dearly love to have back.

[Calltoaction]

^^^ Everyday should be a party now that Coleman Young is dead.

[Zads07]

We have renderings and a plan for the block!

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...ils/579777001/