[Project for River Front Development] Any idea what this was supposed to be?

[Gistok]

Well let's see....

1) it is NOT from 1900... Eliel Saarinen didn't start becoming famous until he did his 1905 Helsinki Train Station.
2) he didn't become world renowned until his 1922 [[2nd place) competition entry for the Chicago Tribune Tower. Although his entry only won 2nd place... it was the most talked about of all the designs for the competition, and was much acclaimed by architects worldwide.
3) he came to Cranbrook Academy in 1925, so that would help date his Detroit arrival.
4) it's too fancy for Moderne Deco architecture of the 30s, so I would likely place it to circa 1926-32.

It could be a rendering for a new Detroit City Hall along the waterfront for the future Civic Center Plaza, but that's not certain.

Eliel did do some designs of the Civic Center... but I can't find an image at the momemt to see if this builiding was included. None of his Civic Center designs were ever implemented... likely because the International Style came into being by the time the plaza was being prepared for structures in the early 50s.

[townonenorth]

Gistok, try reading a few lines above your post. GsGeorge correctly identified the development. And on the Unbuilt Detroit website, this:

This rendering shows a perspective looking south from Jefferson and Woodward
toward Windsor. The building through the arched entrance was a domed memorial
hall dedicated to America’s Veterans of World War I. The rendering was done by
Hugh Ferriss
, one of the most skilled delineators of the first part
of the 20th century.

The plan was devised by architect Eliel Saarinen, it was put to a
public vote, and in 1925 Detroit voters approved paying for a portion of a
modified version of the original plan, seen above in a clay model.

However public funds couldn’t be raised for the balance of the cost before
the depression set in, and the project died.

http://www.internationalmetropolis.com/?p=4786

[Gistok]

Gistok, try reading a few lines above your post. GsGeorge correctly identified the development. And on the Unbuilt Detroit website, this:


http://www.internationalmetropolis.com/?p=4786

Yeah, I saw that after I posted.... I was pretty accurate with the dating!

And that tall building in the never built plan is a near knock-off of his earlier Tribune Tower design.