The Mysterious Awning of the J.L. Hudson's Building

[Krawlspace]

So back in the day when JLH was still standing, I spent a lot of time wandering around the outside just examining the various construction methods and such. My curiosity was always drawn to the one window on the Farmer St. side, just to the north of the freight elevator tower. There was a maroon colored awning, apparently metal as it showed no signs of deterioration after so much time. I was fortunate to have gotten access to the building 4 times prior to demo, and the last trip I had it in my mind to go to the room that had this window and awning to see what exactly the deal was. Was it a hood for a restaurant? The office for some executive who had a dislike of direct sunlight, or what? Unfortunately that last trip was cut short due to discovery and subsequent ejection. [[Apparently the guard I bribed with a dinner from American Coney had left and failed to inform his relief of our bargain) As I never was able to wrangle a way back in, the awning and its secrets ended up in a pile of rubble, leaving me with a gnawing emptiness and sense of loss. So I decided to post here and see if anyone might be able to shed some light [[pun intended) on the Mysterious Case of the Lone Awning. I've posted a couple photos here indicating the awning in question. As I recall, there were identical service areas on each floor in the tower that were tiled in a light brownish glazed restaurant type tile. I don't recall if these areas extended past the tower or not. As the Executive Dining Room was on the 13th floor on the Farmer side, my guess is that it would be a range exhaust hood. Thanks for any info!

[DetroitPlanner]

Maybe this helps?
http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspo...-michigan.html