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Hi all. I was born and raised in Detroit moving out in the late 60's. Was there for the good times and am hoping they come back. I have been reading this forum for a little while now an have enjoyed living my past.
Found this video on You Tube. You all probably already have seen it but I found it quite enjoyable.
I apologize if it has been posted before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umt1CYzUXII
ahh very interesting. :)
First, I had no idea that the exhibits in the Historical Musem were so old.
But I'm also really intrigued by the Civic Center's development. If someone made a good book documenting all of its history I'd buy it.
Some things that stood to me:
- The ideas/renderings of many of the park spaces from the time are much better than how they actually turned out, but the city does have a history of botching the execution of good ideas.
- A model of the civic center and downtown looks like it was made for promotional purposes and doesn't have a strong basis in reality. But there are models of early/speculative versions of things that actually happened. A smaller version of 211 West Fort Street where the entire block was cleared. A building that eventually became 333 West Fort Street. A version of 1001 Woodward that has twin towers flanking Woodward [[even modeled in black).
- The model of the civic center contains the at the time existing buildings, overlayed with elements from the Saarinen schemes. So there's both the Saarinen reflecting pool, despite Ford Auditorium already having been built differently than their plan, and there's the long federal building, despite the City-County Building having already been built differently from their plan. http://www.detroiturbex.com/content/...rium/img/3.jpg You can see how the plan is not conformed to. https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Y5uv...iccenter.0.jpg
- The freeway is buried and capped more extensively, and doesn't transition to ground level, despite this contradicting the Ford garage which was already built and is also included in the model. Like I said the model is very conceptual.
- Riverfront redevelopments adjacent to the civic center eventually found completion in different ways. However, none of the civic center plans I ever see seem to have the tunnel entrance.
The sad thing that the video clip reminds us is that nearly 100 historic buildings were destroyed to make way for the Civic Center. Now granted the end result is Hart Plaza today. But besides the saving of Mariner's Church [[by moving it and adding a modern "historic" tower)... it's kinda sad that so much historic fabric was destroyed. When we see how little of the east riverfront survives today.... one almost laments that more buildings weren't moved.
Also noticed that Marshall Fredricks "Spirit of Detroit" is not yet in place at Woodward & Jefferson.
Thank you for submitting this video. What a walk back thru time. Welcome to Detroityes!
I know this is an unpopular opinion on DYes, but I prefer the Civic Center area as it is now than as it was in the early 50s. We already have an industrial riverfront area in Rivertown, and the Jefferson Avenue streetwall is of modern buildings that give Detroit a good first impression. I’m actually glad we built Hart Plaza, the RenCen, and Cobo as I think it has made a good impact on Downtown.
I agree, I think the civic center makes a lot of sense and has been a great asset for the city. I also think the design of Hart Plaza is overall very good, and I think future plans should focus on restoring it rather than replacing it.
BTW, if you search for "Detroit: Today and Tomorrow" on YouTube, there are 5 other videos from the same series.
Love this postwar endless optimism stuff. Social betterment through design. It never worked, really but it was extremely ambitious.