Another view of Detroit's old City Hall, looking up Michigan Ave. Compete with full "moonlight" lighting tower.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/7658
Click to enlarge to breathtakingly detailed large size.
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Another view of Detroit's old City Hall, looking up Michigan Ave. Compete with full "moonlight" lighting tower.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/7658
Click to enlarge to breathtakingly detailed large size.
And look, no Lafayette Building, just like a few weeks from now.
That tower in the distance back left is the old Federal Building/Post Office, by the way: www.buildingsofdetroit.com/places/post
Magnificent photograph. A moment in time preserved forever.
Is the clock tower in the distance [[left of City Hall's clock tower) that of the old train station?
Sigh. You people don't read! Two posts above it:
"That tower in the distance back left is the old Federal Building/Post Office, by the way: www.buildingsofdetroit.com/places/post "
:)
You're right. I was too quick with my question. When I read you mentioned the "tower", I did not make the connection that you were talking about the clock tower. My bad. Now I'll go sit in the corner while you guys discuss more of this remarkable photo.
Am I right to guess that the steel frame tower in front of City Hall is an early radio broadcast tower?
...with Lowell Thomas
So, what buildings are still standing that are in this picture? I believe that the building that housed the late, lamented Arcade Bar is the same one as seen here. Although I don't know what's under the facades of the 2 coneys, it could very well be the 2 buildings here. Certainly the height is right.
Anything else? Is that the steeple of Most Holy Trinity off in the distance? I can't think of any other church that's stood during my lifetime that would be visible in about that spot.
Oh, just giving you a hard time, gregster.
As for the building still there, the building where American coney is now is there - the owners of the United Shirt demo'd the top few floors to reduce the building's square footage. The city used to tax based on square footage, so by reducing the amount ...
I remember United Shirt at that triangular corner for many years, but I didn't realize that it was an older building with the upper floors missing. American expanded into that space from the adjacent building a few years after United Shirt disappeared, so they actually occupy both buildings now.
"Time for a Wilson's Highball, that's all."
Attachment 5142
wsu/vmc
This is a photo of that building at Michigan and W Lafayette and Griswold, from 1900.
Attachment 5143
wsu/vmc
Thanks for posting the terrific pictures, hornwrecker! I love seeing the marquee/advertisement for Dr. Adams the Dentist. He must have really wanted to get people's attention!
Here is a shot on Lafayette from probably about 1965 [[note the new First Federal Building standing in the background) showing United Shirt in that building at the point of Lafayette and Michigan with the upper floors still intact. I wonder when those floors were removed? Next to it are of course the American and Lafayette Coneys, before their upper floors were covered over with modern facades. At least the Lafayette certainly appears to be in the building in the 1905 picture.
http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...y=1;view=image
Interestingly, if you look at the zoomed-in detail from that picture below, you can see that there was yet another Coney Island in the building where the Arcade Bar was located [[edit: it's in the space where the pipe shop is now)..
http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...ight=512;res=0
Here's a question.
But in many of these great 1900's photo's.
What's up with those tall towers with the lights on them?
They seem to be too tall, and all those guy wires keeping them upright.
I would think that there would be at least twice as many lights on it to be decently bight.
They're arc lighting towers, a few of Detroit's old ones are still in use in Austin, TX.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_tower
Interesting to see the 2 streetcars passing each other on Michigan Ave. in the Shorpy photo, both routed to streets that no longer exist. The eastbound car is signed "Sherman," a street entirely removed for the Lafayette and Elmwood Park developments.
The westbound car is signed "Baker," which was renamed Bagley, I believe sometime in the early 1920s. Although a streetcar line, and later a bus line, named Baker operated until just a few years ago, when it was merged into the Vernor line.
I have long been fascinated by Detroit's old lighting towers. Until now I had always assumed that these towers were long, long gone. I am absolutely shocked to learn that some of them may still exist and have been in continuous use all of this time. Check out these photos: [[!)
http://www.andymattern.com/moonlighttowers
Researching this further online, there seems to be conflicting information as to whether the ones in Austin really came from Detroit or not.