Temple Hotel is no more.

[Bham1982]

The Joe is outdated. It was outdated from the day it opened. Sub-par facility. architectural significance? what architectural significance? It was the closest an old Victorian could get to being a Pulty home.

In 25 years, there will be the exact same posting about our upcoming Illitchville Arena. Illitch Jr. will probably be begging for a half-billion for a fancy new arena promised to revitalize a dead New Center.

[Bham1982]

Who wants a small apartment building on a block with a dozen single family homes????

Not a big fan of Jane Jacobs, I take it?

[TheUsualSuspect]

Maybe, but the Joe REALLY WAS outdated the day it was completed.

The press-box was a last-minute add-on [[somehow the architects had forgotten it). The mens-ladies restroom capacity ratio's were geared more towards 1950's fan demographics than 1980's. The concourse area was too narrow, the corporate boxes too high up. Other cities sports venues lapped it in aesthetics and amenities just a few years after it was built.

Hard to imagine how Mr. I and his planners got it so wrong, but they did.

Now, some wonderful hockeyness happened in that dank grey arena. The entire careers of Mr. Yzerman and Mr. Lidstrom come to mind, as well as tidy collection of Lord Stanley's Cups.

I'm not a big fan of the use of taxpayer dollars to subsidize arenas, but as a fan, as well as a season ticket holder, I've been looking forward to a new arena, built in the style of the Olympia, for about twenty years now.

[softailrider]

Maybe, but the Joe REALLY WAS outdated the day it was completed.

The press-box was a last-minute add-on [[somehow the architects had forgotten it). The mens-ladies restroom capacity ratio's were geared more towards 1950's fan demographics than 1980's. The concourse area was too narrow, the corporate boxes too high up. Other cities sports venues lapped it in aesthetics and amenities just a few years after it was built.

Hard to imagine how Mr. I and his planners got it so wrong, but they did.

Now, some wonderful hockeyness happened in that dank grey arena. The entire careers of Mr. Yzerman and Mr. Lidstrom come to mind, as well as tidy collection of Lord Stanley's Cups.

I'm not a big fan of the use of taxpayer dollars to subsidize arenas, but as a fan, as well as a season ticket holder, I've been looking forward to a new arena, built in the style of the Olympia, for about twenty years now.

I wouldn't hold out much hope for it to be built in the style of Olympia. Just can't imagine that happening.

[softailrider]

I agree. As one example, in Cambridge, MA, which has a wealth of amazing, victorian architecture, it is not entirely uncommon to find a small apartment or condo building on a block with many single family homes. The buildings tend to be on or near major streets and the single family homes as you go away from the major streets, and they do not detract from the single family homes.

There are a lot of streets in Detroit that are mostly single and two family with a 6 to 15 unit apartment or two on them. I would say it's not uncommon at all.

[TheUsualSuspect]

I wouldn't hold out much hope for it to be built in the style of Olympia. Just can't imagine that happening.

There were at some point renderings which suggested a red-bricked facade with a marquee sign which were intended to at least carry some of the design cue's of the Olympia.

It's probably too much to hope for that the new arena will carry the Olympia nameplate.

I was a little bummed when Comerica park came out looking so different than Tiger Stadium. But they DID put the flag pole on the playing field, where it stayed for one season. The shortening of the left field wall put the pole back in the visitors bullpen.

I wonder how much it would cost to re-locate the pole BACK onto the playing field. It was a cool head-nod to Tiger Stadium and I always thought we lost a little something when we lost that feature.

[EastsideAl]

Maybe, but the Joe REALLY WAS outdated the day it was completed.

The press-box was a last-minute add-on [[somehow the architects had forgotten it). The mens-ladies restroom capacity ratio's were geared more towards 1950's fan demographics than 1980's. The concourse area was too narrow, the corporate boxes too high up. Other cities sports venues lapped it in aesthetics and amenities just a few years after it was built.

Hard to imagine how Mr. I and his planners got it so wrong, but they did.

Bruce Norris still owned the Red Wings when JLA was built. Typical of the Norris family, he was shopping for the rock-bottom cheapest solution for his team when the Young administration offered him a deal on a new arena.

JLA was thrown up quickly and cheaply on a too-small patch of city-owned land in order to keep the Wings from moving to the suburbs [[which Norris didn't really want to do, since it would mean moving away from a big part of their fan base in Windsor). The main impetus for the "design" [[if you could really call it that) was to shoehorn an NHL size arena on the small parcel [[remember the cliff-like stairs on the southwest side?), and to keep the costs as low as possible. A big driver for the speedy completion of the arena was the city's successful bid to host the 1980 Republican Convention, which was seen as a big coup for Coleman Young and the city itself.

[EastsideAl]

Sorry if I come across as an idiot, but Detroit has a lot of very nice historic homes in residential areas which can [[and should) be preserved.

But in the area we are talking we are talking of the Temple Hotel and a brand new arena.

It's ridiculous to say that a new arena can't co-exist closely with historic structures in an urban setting. Right there in D.C. you have a great example with the Verizon Center [[home of the Capitols and the Wizards) set in the middle of one of the most historic neighborhoods in the U.S. A dense, urban area that has become a major entertainment district and has mixed a lot of new development in with many preserved historic structures.

[SDCC]

Old meet New - When Petco Park was built an old building stood on the site...The building was incorporated into the Park.

[rb336]

There were at some point renderings which suggested a red-bricked facade with a marquee sign which were intended to at least carry some of the design cue's of the Olympia.

those were the architectural equivalent of fan fiction

[emu steve]

Old meet New - When Petco Park was built an old building stood on the site...The building was incorporated into the Park.

Great idea. Innovative idea.

Didn't Detroit do something similar with a nearby football stadium?

[Danny]

Good riddance to that roach motel.

[downtownguy]

The concourse area was too narrow, the corporate boxes too high up...

I've been looking forward to a new arena, built in the style of the Olympia, for about twenty years now.

Yeah, just where were those corporate boxes at Olympia?

[jerrytimes]

I am sure the parking lot that will replace it will mean more revenue and less upkeep for the new owner.

That sucks. I'd rather have the old dilapidated building there than a parking lot. I love old infested buildings.

[emu steve]

That sucks. I'd rather have the old dilapidated building there than a parking lot. I love old infested buildings.

Tongue in cheek?

That said, DTE is going to build a power station there to support the arena district.

It will be neither [[parking lot or old infested building).

[masterblaster]

I agree. As one example, in Cambridge, MA, which has a wealth of amazing, victorian architecture, it is not entirely uncommon to find a small apartment or condo building on a block with many single family homes. The buildings tend to be on or near major streets and the single family homes as you go away from the major streets, and they do not detract from the single family homes.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/32...f8d2a5!6m1!1e1


https://www.google.com/maps/place/27...ee0bb9!6m1!1e1


https://www.google.com/maps/place/32...9537d7!6m1!1e1

[rb336]

https://www.google.com/maps/place/32...f8d2a5!6m1!1e1


https://www.google.com/maps/place/27...ee0bb9!6m1!1e1


https://www.google.com/maps/place/32...9537d7!6m1!1e1

with the exception of the last shot [[tyler st.) I find little interesting about these buildings

[TheUsualSuspect]

Yeah, just where were those corporate boxes at Olympia?

Seems like too silly a question to even respond to, but here goes:

There weren't any.

Course, Ford built mustangs without airbags in the 60's. Doesn't mean you don't add them when you build mustangs in 2014.

Time moves on and certain amenities become must-haves. You don't build arena's today without large revenue corporate boxes.

It also doesn't mean you have to forget your heritage. A red-bricked facade with a marquee sign wouldn't get up the coolness factor of a new hockey arena in Detroit?

That was a serious question eh?

[Bill Simpson]

I have fond memories of the Temple. Back in the day my buddy knew the owner and we used to smoke doobies with him in the caged off office. Saw many of Detroits finest residents come through there and a few of the best looking women. Saw the longest pair of nipples I've seen to date. I tried to avoid the ladies on crack, but the few who weren't really knew how to have a good time.

[masterblaster]

with the exception of the last shot [[tyler st.) I find little interesting about these buildings

Are these more aesthetically pleasing?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/20...d1ee2b!6m1!1e1

https://www.google.com/maps/place/12...090f07!6m1!1e1


https://www.google.com/maps/place/36...5ddb78a0f45614

The point was to show that there were many streets in Detroit, especially on the

westside, where apartment buildings were built on blocks with single-family houses.

[rb336]

by a mile, MasterBlaster. I wish some would expend the energy they do on a homely Victorian on finding ways to save these sort of buildings

[GUSHI]

they should move these building epically the one in the hoods, that aren't gonna come back, and create a little district , maybe move them to bursh park and make they condos/co ops.

[GUSHI]

Also move some of those churches that are in the abandoned hoods,

[drpoundsign]

And Ilitch had the Old Unitarian Church torched Last Week

[corktownyuppie]

And Ilitch had the Old Unitarian Church torched Last Week

I don't believe that church was owned by Ilitch. And the owner has been rumored to have been frustrated that he couldn't get rid of the property.