Proposed 16-story mixed-use building at Gratiot and Brush

[1953]

Came across this thread tonight while doing some Detroit history research. I’d like to suggest that the Owen Building was demolished in 1939 for the widening of Gratiot. Here’s a picture grabbed from a Detroit Historical Museum Youtube video.

[MikeM]

Came across this thread tonight while doing some Detroit history research. I’d like to suggest that the Owen Building was demolished in 1939 for the widening of Gratiot. Here’s a picture grabbed from a Detroit Historical Museum Youtube video.

Nice find. Looks like the building was being disassembled. Not sure what happened to the Owen & Co Furniture business...no mention of them after 1929, but a Washington Furniture Co occupied the location by the late 1930s. They advertised a "moving sale" through most of 1939 until December, then in 1940 their ads showed they had relocated farther up Gratiot.

Now, there was a building called the Owen Building at 250 Lafayette that coincidentally was demolished for the widening of Wayne St [[Washington) in 1957:

[Lowell]

Interesting side note. The "Budapest?" likely referred to the Hungarian Revolution that happened a few months prior where Russian tanks entered Budapest to suppress the uprising and devastated a great many buildings. It became earliest world affairs memory.