Pick your brain about downtown library and building in Woodbridge

Hi, I have been long intrigued by this building in Woodbridge.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3486...7i16384!8i8192

Does anybody know the history/original purpose of this building?

Maybe 5 years ago somebody boarded it up and it looked like it might be redeveloped, but it still vacant and substantially decayed.

Were any redevelopment plans ever publicized for this building? What is your suggestion of what this building could become if some entity invested in it?

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Also, the Downtown Library has long been an overlooked building in downtown, even before it was recently closed for about a year due to significant water damage.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sk...!4d-83.0466269

The building is surrounded by significant downtown attractions and current construction projects - Punchbowl Social, the Belt Alley, Shinola Hotel, New Hudsons Development, Compuware Building Expansion, new Element Hotel, etc. However, it seems to be an underutilized deadspace in middle of that buzzsaw of activity downtown.

What ideas do you have that would activate this building so that it would add to the downtown revival? I know that traditional libraries are on the decline due the rise of the internet and Kindle Fire. But I still believe this library could contribute to the vibrancy of downtown.

I posted this question in another internet forum. Most posters supported that it should remain a library at its core offering upgraded wifi service, more study tables, and longer hours of operation. Some other suggestions included making it a sort of community center for the downtown residential community, adding a coffee shop, makerspace activities, and establishing a lecture series about the large automotive history collection that is on the library's 2nd floor. What do you guys think?

Thanks

The library really needs programing and perhaps a cafe to help draw people in. I love the grounds from an aesthetic perspective, but they don't invite people to come and linger around. An extension of the programing outside would be a good thing to consider, much like they are going to try to do with the DIA so these institutions aren't closed off monoliths.

A significant increase in the nearby population should help as well.

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Originally Posted by masterblaster

Hi, I have been long intrigued by this building in Woodbridge.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3486...7i16384!8i8192

Does anybody know the history/original purpose of this building?

Maybe 5 years ago somebody boarded it up and it looked like it might be redeveloped, but it still vacant and substantially decayed.

Were any redevelopment plans ever publicized for this building? What is your suggestion of what this building could become if some entity invested in it?

*****************************************

Also, the Downtown Library has long been an overlooked building in downtown, even before it was recently closed for about a year due to significant water damage.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sk...!4d-83.0466269

The building is surrounded by significant downtown attractions and current construction projects - Punchbowl Social, the Belt Alley, Shinola Hotel, New Hudsons Development, Compuware Building Expansion, new Element Hotel, etc. However, it seems to be an underutilized deadspace in middle of that buzzsaw of activity downtown.

What ideas do you have that would activate this building so that it would add to the downtown revival? I know that traditional libraries are on the decline due the rise of the internet and Kindle Fire. But I still believe this library could contribute to the vibrancy of downtown.

I posted this question in another internet forum. Most posters supported that it should remain a library at its core offering upgraded wifi service, more study tables, and longer hours of operation. Some other suggestions included making it a sort of community center for the downtown residential community, adding a coffee shop, makerspace activities, and establishing a lecture series about the large automotive history collection that is on the library's 2nd floor. What do you guys think?

Thanks

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Libraries aren't really dying, but from living in Detroit, it always made me sad to use my libraries and find them perpetually stuck in the 1950's. The downtown library is so beautiful! Yet all the Detroit Libraries have a sadness of faded glory about them. Libraries will die if they don't find relevance.

What you describe exists...it is my local library, and it is absolutely burgeoning. It is indeed more of a community cafe with a curated book selection but man it is awesome!

Sadly I don't think DPL has the resources to pull something like that off. Then again, millages are guaranteed to pass in Detroit, and i think a space like Westgate in the Downtown Library would appeal to all the classes of people who live downtown and beyond.

The Downtown Library, aka The Skillman Branch, in decades past housed the foreign newspaper collection. On most days the reading room would be populated by elderly men reading the newspapers from the old country. With the computer age and the internet, such a need was greatly reduced.

About 15 years ago the Downtown Branch was closed for extensive renovation, I assume with funds provided by the Skillman Foundation, hence the name change.

The DPL's National Automotive History Collection, a big deal, was moved from the Main Library, and is now housed at the Skillman Branch. Also when the library reopened there was a children's section which I thought was odd given the scarcity of children living downtown at the time.

A major problem for urban libraries nationwide is how do libraries accommodate the large number of homeless patrons and street people who have nowhere to go during the day. Many are drawn to the local library as a place to read, use the lavatory, do computer work, or just hang out. Sometimes this can discourage others from using the library. Again, this is not just a Detroit problem, it's nationwide.

We have a massive library in Midtown with all the rows of books and quietness of a traditional library. I would like to see the Skillman branch be more of an open invitation for gathering for small team meetings or individual users without the stuffiness of the old, dead library feel. A Cafe would help bring that sort of vibe.

A cafe would be nice! Also, not sure if any of the other branches have this, but a small used bookstore would be neat too. Perhaps change the hours as well. Maybe one late evening day, like 8 pm? They're not open on Friday apparently.

ALSO!

The building is at 1775. W. Forest Ave. It was the Danish Brotherhood Hall [[hence the "DB" at the top of the building facade).

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1696...st-Detroit-MI/

It's amazing how many ethnic fraternal halls this city had.

http://www.detroiturbex.com/content/...ful/index.html

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. They include:

-transform the space into a gathering place for small team meetings

-a coffee shop

-features similar to the Westgate Library in Ann Arbor. The Ann Arbor library has five study rooms, a community meeting and event space, two small meeting rooms, a reading room with a fireplace and additional seating and workspaces with wiring for computers and other electronic devices. Also, a cafe.

-longer hours, maybe 8 to 9 o'clock at least one day of the week.

Unfortunately, the "homeless and street people" phenomenon that poster Neilr brings up exists at that library as well. One of the few on-line reviews of the library mentions being panhandled. This could be eliminated through the security people doing their jobs.

Thanks for the suggestions! I wonder if a consortium of downtown businesses exist that would fund these type of improvements.

AND a small used bookstore. :D

I LOVE the used bookstore idea. I think a John K. King pop up a few days a week with a rotating collection would be a big draw for local workers. It would probably draw attention to their larger store and help them out as well.

Random Possible Facts[[?) of Dubious Interest:

- The last execution in Michigan took place behind what is now the Skillman Branch. I was not a library at that time.


- I believe the Danish Hall was a suspected hotbed for communists and was raided by the State Police. Part of the skullduggery behind CAY being labeled a Red and the reason he was hauled in front of HUAC

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Originally Posted by masterblaster

Also, the Downtown Library has long been an overlooked building in downtown, even before it was recently closed for about a year due to significant water damage.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sk...!4d-83.0466269

The building is surrounded by significant downtown attractions and current construction projects - Punchbowl Social, the Belt Alley, Shinola Hotel, New Hudsons Development, Compuware Building Expansion, new Element Hotel, etc. However, it seems to be an underutilized deadspace in middle of that buzzsaw of activity downtown.

What ideas do you have that would activate this building so that it would add to the downtown revival? I know that traditional libraries are on the decline due the rise of the internet and Kindle Fire. But I still believe this library could contribute to the vibrancy of downtown.

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Agree with others that programming would go a long way. This doesn't mean quiet...it should be active, community-oriented and even cater to performances. Cafe + bar service and sidewalk seating is not far fetched. Libraries aren't going away, but they are catering to more non-traditional uses.

In warmer months the small lawn patch on the north side of the library is more of a day lounge for any variety of vagrant/homeless types. On my way to the office, I often saw a few sleeping among the boxwoods and at the end of my day I noticed all of the refuse they left behind. Now that the Z-Garage retail is filling in and Hudson's redevelopment kicks into higher gear these folks will move on.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather would get dressed up in a suit and tie and take the bus downtown to this library to spend the day reading all of thd newspapers from England. He said that this library had the best selection of international newspapers. When I worked downtown in 1970’s-1990’s this library used to host brown bag concerts during lunch hour.

In 1830 the city jail was located on the spot where the library now sits. There was a gallows as well. A man named Simmons was hanged there in 1830. The hanging of Simmons caused a revolt because an innocent person had been recently hanged in Windsor. Parishioners from the Methodist congregation destroyed the gallows, threw the pieces in the river, and vowed to abolish the death penalty. They persuaded the territorial governor to impose a moratorium on hangings. The moratorium held until Michigan became a state and subsequently abolished the death penalty in 1846. I understand that Michigan was the first polity to outlaw the death penalty. It all started on the spot where the library now stands.

Most libraries get enough donations of old books to sell them all the time. The small library I work in has a perpetual book sale table as well as having two large book sales per year. The issue with a "small used bookstore" is that you would have to allocate at least one if not two employees to that job full time or have a really robust "Friends" group to man the store. And at this point in time when many libraries are still doing curbside only, it just wouldn't be feasible.
Something that ALL libraries really need is people to join their Friends of the LIbrary group and volunteer time to helping with fundraising and more. This is going to be a really tough year because of Covid

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Originally Posted by DetroitSoldier

I LOVE the used bookstore idea. I think a John K. King pop up a few days a week with a rotating collection would be a big draw for local workers. It would probably draw attention to their larger store and help them out as well.

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Interesting that someone painted a Danish flag on the doors too.

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Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

ALSO!

The building is at 1775. W. Forest Ave. It was the Danish Brotherhood Hall [[hence the "DB" at the top of the building facade).

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1696...st-Detroit-MI/

It's amazing how many ethnic fraternal halls this city had.

http://www.detroiturbex.com/content/...ful/index.html

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Woodbridge building looks like it got new boards last year.

Anything still being abandoned in Woodbridge seems surprising to me. Likely something will get done soon.