Ghost Blocks in Detroit

[southofbloor]

George Nettleton

Nice Work p69rrh51!

[Occurrence]

Simple solution , 80% of these people are on Welfare, put them to work tearing down these blocks by hand, the city can provide the tools and removal trucks .
No work NO CHECK!
And then turn it all into farmland and have them work it , again No work NO CHECK!
Before people get all over me for the term "Them" it refers to anyone on the government Dole any one !!!
Bing has a chance to change the current system and set an example to the rest of the country.....NO WORK NO CHECK !!!

Who is going to pay to have the structures surveyed for asbestos? Who if going to pay to have the asbestos removed properly? Who is going to pay for the proper machinery it will take to tear these places down? Who is going to pay for lawyer and court costs when some building owners come out and sue the city for demolishing their property?

[p69rrh51]

Nice Work p69rrh51!

Thx! Every so often the city will suprise you.

[RickBeall]

Great detective work p6944h51.

[southofbloor]

Thx! Every so often the city will suprise you.

My favourite surprise so far was this one in the near north end - I wouldn't call those streets ghost blocks by the definition above as there are a lot of gaps and a lot of the remaining buildings are mostly/partially inhabited but maybe mystery blocks. The streets around Alger and John R are intriguing because while there is not much left of it, enough remains to show that this must have been an architecturally interesting neighbourhood. This one turned out to be the George A. Armstrong house by William Edgarton N Hunter, before 1905. Made a wrong turn looking for something else and there it was...

[Neilr]

From an earlier thread:

In the era of Detroit's not-so-distant past when de-facto housing segregation was practiced, that area was home to many of Detroit's black professional class. Streets such as Chandler, Melbourne, Alger, King, and Holbrook had substantial homes that were occupied and impeccably maintained by the residents who were teachers, lawyers, doctors, businessmen and the like. For example, the Pelham family lived on Holbrook. Even after housing patterns changed and professional black families were able to move to the West Side, a number of those families aged in place even as the neighborhood started to change around them and was no longer seen as a desirable place to live by Detroit's elite.

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...d-E-Grand-Blvd

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

Man your not kidding talk about architectural wealth, I just cruised the John R and Alger neighborhood on google and its loaded with 100+ year old gems. Love those big wide porches. Thanks for the post Southofbloor

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

http://g.co/maps/v6h2w
I wonder how the city missed this old style street lamp. We had one of these in my backyard when I was groing up on Chalmers. My Dad got from one of the old streets they tore up when he was working on constructing Joe Louis back in the 70's

[hamtown mike]

I'd bet you your idea would cost twice as much as having a company that does this type of work do it. With the training that would be needed, the potential for injuries and all the goverment red tape it sounds like a nightmare.

There is actually such a group providing this training- WARM. they are leading the responsible deconstruction process.

The reuse and sale of the salvaged materials and additional positive effects more than pay for the cost.

learn more about them here: http://www.warmtraining.org/

[hamtown mike]

Line up the dozers,,,start knocking it down,,,,Detroit With only a few exceptions is fucked up, it's the mayors and city councils fault, past and present, Detroit lives in denial, it's not what it was and will never be,,,,,,,,

I think a dozer derby would be awesome!

[Brian1979]

Attachment 12303Attachment 12304
This is 1 block WEST of Gratiot. The contrast is HUGE. Did the Realtors know how to separate the two different types of homeowners?

I gotcha. East State Fair where you showed looks great and if you didn't know you probably wouldn't think it was in Detroit. Now the one you showed for Tacoma looks different, there are pockets of nice kept lawns like on State Fair a block away but there are much larger pockets of abandonment.

I guess I would have to travel there myself to see it since Google Maps is probably a few years old, I'm willing to bet there is even larger pockets of abandoned houses on Tacoma now. What about State Fair though? Is it the same today as in the maps?

[Brian1979]

This neighborhood, east of John R and north of Mcnichols, holy hell!

Attachment 12307

Wow that is striking. The block in the center looks like it only has two houses on it.

[p69rrh51]

My favourite surprise so far was this one in the near north end - I wouldn't call those streets ghost blocks by the definition above as there are a lot of gaps and a lot of the remaining buildings are mostly/partially inhabited but maybe mystery blocks. The streets around Alger and John R are intriguing because while there is not much left of it, enough remains to show that this must have been an architecturally interesting neighbourhood. This one turned out to be the George A. Armstrong house by William Edgarton N Hunter, before 1905. Made a wrong turn looking for something else and there it was...

Very close to the Armstrong home is this beauty. I have not been able to research the home, the address is 82 King. If anyone has any info let me know.

[Brian1979]

Detroit's population is probably around 550,000-600,000.

[southofbloor]

From an earlier thread:

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...d-E-Grand-Blvd

Thanks Neilr! Sounds like this neighbourhood is historically interesting as well as having some great buildings. I haven't seen much written on it yet but there might be a book in there somewhere from the looks of that thread. Was the black professional class there 50's - 70's? And mainly east of Woodward? Would be interesting to look at who of Detroit's notables were living there. This might be off topic from this thread...

p69rrh51 there are a few really good houses around King. Another group that no one really talks about is up at Lawrence, west of Woodward. Great block of maybe half inhabited buildings. Not sure if that neighbourhood north of Boston Edison south of Highland Park had a name?

[southofbloor]

Lawrence west of Woodward

[p69rrh51]

Lawrence west of Woodward

You are getting into George Peppard's neighborhood. If I remember correctly he lived on Burlingame. And yes there are plenty of terrific homes on a few streets in the neighborhood.

[Neilr]

Lawrence west of Woodward

Right across the street from this house, on the north side of Lawrence sits The Laura Osborn House. It's a very handsome red brick Victorian with a turret that still has its witch's hat.



Mrs. Osborn was perhaps one of the most influential educational reformers in Detroit in the early decades of the 20th century. In 1917 she became the first woman to hold elective office in Detroit when she was elected to the School Board on which she continued to serve until she died in 1955. Osborn High School is named after her.

http://tinyurl.com/75uu4t9

[southofbloor]

Someone's doing a great job on maintaining the place.

[GUSHI]

They can start on the other side of mt Elliott just east of my old neighborhood,
Hey Hamtown what's going on w st lads school