Another gem from Detroit Publishing via Shorpy

[Ray1936]

This one's a beauty.....1918.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/18820?size=_original#caption

[cla1945]

Great picture, thanks for sharing it Ray.

[p69rrh51]

No big deal! When will everyone wake up and realize Shorpy gets all of their images from the Library of Congress online archives. The Detroit Publishing Company images are available to anyone who cares to take the time to go through the catalog. On the other hand I doubt highly that Shorpy has a color image of that intersection from the early 1950's.

[rjlj]

Thanks for nothing Ray.

No big deal! When will everyone wake up and realize Shorpy gets all of their images from the Library of Congress online archives. The Detroit Publishing Company images are available to anyone who cares to take the time to go through the catalog. On the other hand I doubt highly that Shorpy has a color image of that intersection from the early 1950's.

[old guy]

Another thought evoking photo. Thanks Ray

[archfan]

p69rrh51, Shorpy does use the LOC and other public sources, and then cleans up the photos. There's a link on the Shorpy main page that explains how they bring out details in the photos. Here's the link:

http://www.shorpy.com/node/451

There's also a section for members to post photos; I bet the folks there would like to see your color version. I thought it was interesting to see the changes.

[Gistok]

What is really sad about the Shorpy image is the fact that the Cadillac Square Building shown as the image's centerpiece was torn down 25 years ago... for a parking lot!

http://historicdetroit.org/galleries...lition-photos/

[EastsideAl]

Another view, over a little to the left, and 6 years earlier.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/18826?size=_original#caption

The National Theater, shown in the 1918 shot, isn't there yet. But Kern's can be seen, and behind it the first part of the Hudson's complex [[the "Big Store" facing onto Farmer). Old Campus Martius is in the foreground, with Wright Kay at the Woodward corner, the old Opera House, the regrettably long-gone Merrill Fountain, and a great "Fords" ad on top of the Temple Theater. And, parked in front of the fountain on Woodward, is a lone exemplar of an outmoded early 20th century technology, the electric car! [[Baker? Detroit?)

[jcole]

Another view, over a little to the left, and 6 years earlier.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/18826?size=_original#caption

The National Theater, shown in the 1918 shot, isn't there yet. But Kern's can be seen, and behind it the first part of the Hudson's complex [[the "Big Store" facing onto Farmer). Old Campus Martius is in the foreground, with Wright Kay at the Woodward corner, the old Opera House, the regrettably long-gone Merrill Fountain, and a great "Fords" ad on top of the Temple Theater. And, parked in front of the fountain on Woodward, is a lone exemplar of an outmoded early 20th century technology, the electric car! [[Baker? Detroit?)

I thought the Merrill Fountain had been moved to Palmer Park?

[EastsideAl]

I thought the Merrill Fountain had been moved to Palmer Park?

It was. Long-gone from downtown - moved in 1926.

Would sure look nice though in front of the Compuware building, or One Kennedy Square [[Ernst & Young), or in Cadillac Square, or operating almost anywhere downtown rather than sitting way up in Palmer Park, dry, crumbling, and nearly forgotten [[except for the angels at People for Palmer Park).

[canuck]

What is really sad about the Shorpy image is the fact that the Cadillac Square Building shown as the image's centerpiece was torn down 25 years ago... for a parking lot!

http://historicdetroit.org/galleries...lition-photos/

Sad to you maybe, but think of those people who park...

[mikeg19]

Does anyone else find it kinda fucked up that this picture from almost 100 years ago is the exact same thing that we are trying to accomplish today?

[EastsideAl]

I doubt highly that Shorpy has a color image of that intersection from the early 1950's.

The disconcerting thing about this photograph is just how few of these buildings we still have today [[with fewer still in actual productive use, and several endangered like the National and 1300 Beaubien), and the misguided parking-driven emptiness that has replaced so many of them.

[EastsideAl]

Does anyone else find it kinda fucked up that this picture from almost 100 years ago is the exact same thing that we are trying to accomplish today?

It's supremely fucked up. Turns out it's pretty difficult and tremendously expensive to overcome and even partially undo about 90 years of anti-urbanism. Just to get us back to something remotely like the early 20th century.

[canuck]

It's supremely fucked up. Turns out it's pretty difficult and tremendously expensive to overcome and even partially undo about 90 years of anti-urbanism. Just to get us back to something remotely like the early 20th century.

Yes, if the lessons are learned, we can find a way to undo a lot of this mess, Detroit may be an outstanding example of the car-centric for obvious reasons, but all big cities and towns have suffered the iniquity of slaphappy planning.

It didn't take that long for our cities to be transformed into behemoths, and the evolution toward more sustainable systems is not as arduous as we may think. Humans are clever little devils.

[Lowell]

Hey look. There was light rail on Woodward. We should bring that idea back but maybe make it curbside instead.

[Lowell]

The mansard roof Pontchartrain is lovely. Too bad that building had to go. It is interesting to note how its sign is oriented toward the river - no doubt to to catch the eyes on the passenger ships and rail terminals that would have been in that direction.

[nain rouge]

Does anyone else find it kinda fucked up that this picture from almost 100 years ago is the exact same thing that we are trying to accomplish today?

Yep, and the buildings WILL never look that good again. We destroyed all that so we could one day have this: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/modern-brick-stucco-apartment-building-22518470.jpg .

[mikeg19]

It's sad really. People flock to NYC, Chicago, D.C to admire their turn of the century architecture, the beautiful art deco skyscrapers of the 1920's. To have Detroit called the "Paris of the Midwest" at one point in time is laughable to think of today, considering we've obliterated almost anything of historical significance around here save for our most treasured structures. Detroit could have been one of those cities, but we all know the story.

[Scottathew]

Yep, and the buildings WILL never look that good again. We destroyed all that so we could one day have this: [/COLOR]http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/modern-brick-stucco-apartment-building-22518470.jpg .

Yes, but how else are we supposed to build, beautiful, beautiful strip malls.