Quo Vadis Marquees Removed. Full Demolition Next?

**Lowell** · August-27-09, 08:51 AM

Where are we going? The landmark Quo Vadis marquees were torn down earlier this month. Can full demolition of the Yamasaki designed theater be far behind? Let's take a look at this intriguing structure. Tour the Quo Vadis >

Do you have memories, recollections or thoughts of the Quo Vadis? Share them here?

**Wykkidx** · August-27-09, 09:22 AM

I remember going to the Quo Vadis when I was younger, it was a very nice theater. I couldn't wait till I hit 21 so I could go upstairs and order a drink. Never saw a theater that had a bar in it lol. I also remember the drive-in that use to be next door to the QV the Algiers, saw the man with two brains there. Sigh all the nice places are being torn down to make way for progression, Quo Vadis, Mai Kai, Terrace, Even the theaters at the Livonia mall were kinda a landmark from my youth. They all will be missed.

**Detroitnerd** · August-27-09, 09:28 AM

It's where I saw Return of the Jedi as a 13-year-old with my friends.

**brougham** · August-27-09, 09:45 AM

I saw many a great film there, too many to list here. There was always something cool about seeing a film up in one of the Penthouse theatres. You had to climb stairs and snake around these narrow corridors to get to your seats. But it was probably a nightmare from a safety standpoint. I can imagine in an emergency it would have been difficult to get out of there. Too bad it hasn't been rennovated and put to some other use.

**GREENTROIT** · August-27-09, 09:45 AM

Yeah, I remember it being very creepy inside when I was a kid. Now I consider it a giant reminder of Detroit's and Westland's shortcomings. It has been vacant for over 5 years now, and was pretty sad before that. It sits in the front of a giant sea of broken concrete. It isn't a building that quietly sits vacant, either. The giant marquees and vertical windows attract attention. It is one of many failing businesses in the immediate surrounding areas of the Westland Mall [[Sams Club, Denny's, Service Merchandise, Laser Quest, Michaels, countless restaurants, countless local stores).

Before we complain about supposedly architecturally important buildings being demolished, lets consider redevelopment. This Quo Vadis has no realistic chance of redevelopment. The area has proven it won't support business, and the structure isn't welcoming to any rational idea. For years I've heard whispers that it might become a night club, or restaurant, or any other idea. Those would just be wastes of money when business closes in a few years and guess what? The marquees would have been torn down anyway. Additionally, demolition isn't immenent as you make it seem. The city of Westland is placing the theater into its Nuisance Abatement program which forces owners into either cleaning up properties and bringing them to code, or tearing them down. Demo wouldn't happen for at least a year and the building would enter the Westland Land Bank before the city could acquire it anyway. [[http://www.journalgroup.com/Westland...d-be-torn-down)

Lowell, in your picture tour you write an anectode about a Sears driver calling Westland "Wasteland" [[completely unoriginal, by the way.) Well it is vacant and unsightly structures like the Quo Vadis that lead to such easy characterizations of the city. So while you complain about the loss of some marquees and imply impending doom for the theater, it directly contributes to a nickname that you have no problem poking fun at. So, it's either keep the empty building up for nostalgiac reasons and help facilitate the idea of Wasteland, or move on into the 21st century.

detmich · August-27-09, 11:02 AM

Where are you going, Quo Vadis?

**Detroitnerd** · August-27-09, 11:08 AM

Westland: The place to be.

Never could figure whether it meant it was a hot place or coming soon.

Lorax · August-27-09, 11:09 AM

Hey Green, what an empty, hopeless post. Your premises are also off, by a long shot.

If Bally's can reconstitute Yamasaki's Reynolds Metals Building in Southfield as a health club, LA Fitness, the firm presumably going to replace the QV with a fitness center, can reuse the QV for the same purpose.

Use the auditorium for the pool/saunas/hottubs/showers, etc. Use the lobby as the lobby for the fitness center, add a juice bar/restaurant, and relight the fireplace in winter. Put a coffee shop in too.

See, how hard was that?

What's amazing in this story is the lack of foresight on behalf of the City of Westland, the developers, and the audience at the city hall meeting who cheered the pending demolition.

It's the most architecturally significant building in Westland, and they want to replace it with a beige stucco box with molded styrofoam cornices.

The QV is just the kind of building being celebrated in other, more forward thinking parts of the country, a style enjoying a renaissance in books like Kelly Wearstler's Modern Glamour. The high-quality glass mosaic tile facade alone would cost 250,000 bucks to replace, and this is something I know a little something about.

Wasting any stand-out piece of architecture, especially when it's the only one you have is simply stupid.

Westland should mandate that the shell of the building be reused, and the lobby landmarked as well. It's done in every other city, why not Westland?

What's doubly maddening is that Detroit was once the most progressive design city in America up and through the 1960's, in autos, architecture and the like. Now it keeps showing itself to be behind the times design wise, and backward thinking, settling for just about any business that promises a few jobs and a bump in the tax base, no matter how much it really costs the cities in the long term.

Any bets on how many months the LA Fitness stays open once they've erased the QV and built their beige box? Guaranteed it will close soon after, as they have here in Florida.

Just another example of a corporation with too much credit, ready to waste it by wasting our built environment.

**Danny** · August-27-09, 12:10 PM

Qvo vadis, collisevm?

**56packman** · August-27-09, 01:14 PM

The Quo Vadis is about the age that the great movie palaces were when they met the wrecking ball, the Hollywood in Detroit, the Roxy and Paramount in new york, the Paradise in Chicago, the Fox in San Francisco. Movie theaters are inviting targets for demolition and redevelopment because of their large footprint, easier to purchase in cities than buying up multiple commercail structures to assemble an equal sized footprint.
The Quo Vadis was somewhat unique in design, but it all comes down to commercial viability. The movie palaces came down because there were a lot of them and the land underneith them became more valuable than the operation of the theatre. The Roxy and Paramount were turning a profit at the end of their life, but an office building could make more.
In this economy I don't know what would go there.
I'm sure Gistok can extoll on this subject.

diver1369 · August-27-09, 02:06 PM

Lorax, I welcome you to bring the wisdom of your insights to the next Westland council meeting and share with them your ideas about how the significance of the Quo Vadis should be recognized. They are scheduled on Monday evenings. Let me know if you have any interest in that.

http://ci.westland.mi.us/images/pdf/...tings_2009.pdf

**catch22** · August-27-09, 02:17 PM

I have lived within 5 miles of this building most of my life. I drive by it at least twice every day. I don't care who designed it, I've alway considered it cheap and gaudy looking. It's just a box that someone slapped that ugly extruded trim onto. It has none of the ambience that the older theaters do. If it disappears I will not miss it one bit.

It was an OK place to watch a movie in the main auditorium, but I hated the upstairs theaters.

**GREENTROIT** · August-27-09, 02:41 PM

@ Lorax...

The LA Fitness plan fell through, hence the moves toward the wrecking ball. So if you are serious about your fitness center/spa/juice bar/coffee shop, then I'm sure the Westland City Council would love to hear your plans. Until then, its just an empty ugly building in a crappy parking lot.

**ASR89** · August-27-09, 02:44 PM

I live in Westland, and I know the Quo Vadis well. I must have drove past it 20 times or so this past month and I didn't even notice they tore down the marquees. With the Quo Vadis gone for a few years now, and the closure of the Showcase Cinema within the past year or 2, there is nowhere in Westland to go see a 1st run movie. I imagine the much newer Emagine took away a lot of business. That's where I go now. I'm going to be disappointed if they tear it down because it has been a part of the streetscape for as long as I've been alive. If it could find another use, that would be great. The last proposal I heard was fitness centre [[even though there's one across the street).

Like another poster said, that area has lost a lot of businesses within the past 10 years. When I was really young, that strip mall by the theatre used to have sidewalk sales each summer. Every store was occupied and it was busy. The mall and the strip mall with Target don't seem to be doing too bad. I hate seeing the vacant Best Buy, Sam's Club and Service Merchandise properties. Development-wise, they're building a Sonic where the Denny's used to be on the outskirts of the Best Buy lot.

ziggyselbin · August-27-09, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by catch22

I have lived within 5 miles of this building most of my life. I drive by it at least twice every day. I don't care who designed it, I've alway considered it cheap and gaudy looking. It's just a box that someone slapped that ugly extruded trim onto. It has none of the ambience that the older theaters do. If it disappears I will not miss it one bit.

It was an OK place to watch a movie in the main auditorium, but I hated the upstairs theaters.

Gee whiz 22 do you really want/need to exhibit such blatant ignorance? Wrong and strong as they say.

It is a source of almost endless irritation on this forum. That some of you can claim to be appreciative of architecture; as long as it is what you like.

The quo vadis is a great example of mid twentieth century architecture. And it is the work of the same man that gave us the mich con and the world trade center.But then mid century gets no respect here.
I would remind those of you myopic in your vision that much of earlier architecture styles [[example:victorian) were thought of the same way. So when you come across some great bldg that has been cobbled up don't despair because the same sentiment is being applied that is being applied by some here regarding the quo vadis.

**catch22** · August-27-09, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by ziggyselbin

Gee whiz 22 do you really want/need to exhibit such blatant ignorance? Wrong and strong as they say.

It is a source of almost endless irritation on this forum. That some of you can claim to be appreciative of architecture; as long as it is what you like.

The quo vadis is a great example of mid twentieth century architecture. And it is the work of the same man that gave us the mich con and the world trade center.But then mid century gets no respect here.
I would remind those of you myopic in your vision that much of earlier architecture styles [[example:victorian) were thought of the same way. So when you come across some great bldg that has been cobbled up don't despair because the same sentiment is being applied that is being applied by some here regarding the quo vadis.

All I said is that I consider this building ugly and always have. Yes, I know who designed it. The QV is just a typical movie theater box with some junk trim slapped on and a horrible second-floor layout. To me, it's no more "significant" than any one of the other hundreds of cookie-cutter-design movie theaters out there. But that's just my opinion.

**Sstashmoo** · August-27-09, 03:37 PM

Quote: "I've alway considered it cheap and gaudy looking. It's just a box that someone slapped that ugly extruded trim onto. It has none of the ambience that the older theaters do. If it disappears I will not miss it one bit."

Agreed, "Tear that schitt down".

ziggyselbin · August-27-09, 04:26 PM

the same mindset that gave us eugenics ....would it not be easier just to say you don't like it but understand that it might have historic and architectural significance? Or would you all rather blather on about how unacknowledged you are?

**Sstashmoo** · August-27-09, 05:51 PM

QUOTE: ".would it not be easier just to say you don't like it but understand that it might have historic and architectural significance?"

I can't see that it has either. It's just a theater thrown up during the micro-boom of that area. there is nothing really significant about the structure, it's a double decker shoebox. The area is hardly any sort of cultural center. It's an old theater. Drab 60's something get it together construction. I just can't see the significance, it's an eyesore if you ask me.

ziggyselbin · August-27-09, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

QUOTE: ".would it not be easier just to say you don't like it but understand that it might have historic and architectural significance?"

I can't see that it has either. It's just a theater thrown up during the micro-boom of that area. there is nothing really significant about the structure, it's a double decker shoebox. The area is hardly any sort of cultural center. It's an old theater. Drab 60's something get it together construction. I just can't see the significance, it's an eyesore if you ask me.

So because you can't see it means it has no significance? The fact that it was designed by an important architect is a significant fact.

Lorax · August-27-09, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

QUOTE: ".would it not be easier just to say you don't like it but understand that it might have historic and architectural significance?"

I can't see that it has either. It's just a theater thrown up during the micro-boom of that area. there is nothing really significant about the structure, it's a double decker shoebox. The area is hardly any sort of cultural center. It's an old theater. Drab 60's something get it together construction. I just can't see the significance, it's an eyesore if you ask me.

Typical backward thinking from this poster. Infesting the threads with her ususal myopic, uneducated, and thoroughly depressing viewpoints.

Well, in spite of this downer, the QV offers much more than than the typical movie house box, which opening one's eyes would easily show.

As I mentioned above, the high-quality blue/gold glass mosaics would cost a quarter million bucks today. That's just for starters. The massing of glass with ramping and cantilevered staircases, the sunken lobby with carrera marble, the modernist looped railings, the curved rusticated marble fireplace wall.

All this, and I haven't even gotten beyond the lobby.

Yamasaki was a master at spacial planning. The Michigan Consolidated Gas Company Building in downtown Detroit is one of the most exemplary structures in the US utilizing space and light to such effect. Sadly, this building is looking a little worse for the wear as well, lately.

Lorax · August-27-09, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by GREENTROIT

@ Lorax...

The LA Fitness plan fell through, hence the moves toward the wrecking ball. So if you are serious about your fitness center/spa/juice bar/coffee shop, then I'm sure the Westland City Council would love to hear your plans. Until then, its just an empty ugly building in a crappy parking lot.

Well, that's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say.

Your opinion that it's an ugly building, however, is not.

The QV certainly isn't any uglier than any other building in Westland.

Lorax · August-27-09, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

Quote: "I've alway considered it cheap and gaudy looking.

That's the pot calling the kettle.......

Lorax · August-27-09, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by diver1369

Lorax, I welcome you to bring the wisdom of your insights to the next Westland council meeting and share with them your ideas about how the significance of the Quo Vadis should be recognized. They are scheduled on Monday evenings. Let me know if you have any interest in that.

http://ci.westland.mi.us/images/pdf/...tings_2009.pdf

Thanks Diver,

If I am in town, and I may be one of those days, I will be happy to show up. I live in Miami, and travel back and forth each month, up to 2 weeks at a time. So we'll see.

I though the solutions were simple, and Westland needs to try and fill the other vacant big box retail store first, since they are certainly in better physical condition than the QV.

The QV needs to be protected by the city for future development, with conditions placed on it. Even the mayor would have the ability to issue an executive order halting any movement toward demolition.

I would suggest using the analogy of how close Orchestra Hall came to demolition, to be replaced by a McDonalds, and was saved in the 11th hour. And Orchestra Hall was in a helluva lot worse shape.

Elected officials are by and large devoid of any ability to see beyond the immediate- it's rare to have one be forward thinking and proactive. With Westland being no exception.

What can be the biggest asset is often seen as a liability, and is erased in favor of some promise of something bigger and better, which is rarely the case.

Dearborn made the same mistake by demolishing the Montgomery Ward store on Michigan Avenue. This building was an anchor, and an exceedinglly beautiful retail structure that could have been many uses, was well built, and in great condition. But this creeping myopia with regard to the built environment has rendered our streetscapes void of anything remotely attractive.

Funny how if European cities had this backward mindset, there wouldn't be any historic architecture left standing at all. For this kind of slash and burn action to be taking place in 2009, shows how we have regressed, and will have that much harder of a time connecting with our past.

**Sstashmoo** · August-27-09, 07:25 PM

Quote: "As I mentioned above, the high-quality blue/gold glass mosaics would cost a quarter million bucks today. That's just for starters. The massing of glass with ramping and cantilevered staircases, the sunken lobby with carrera marble, the modernist looped railings, the curved rusticated marble fireplace wall."

Sounds like a great place to shoot a 60's era porn flick. I'll dust off the merkin and be right over. Carrera marble huh? Should be good for the bulldozer tracks to grab hold of during the demolition.

Lorax sits in some apartment Florida making decisions about this area. Lorax, we have an abundance of empty structures awaiting your picket sign. That theater is nothing but an eyesore and is driving property values down in that area, the whole area actually. As one other posted noted: "In a sea of broken concrete" sums it up nicely. If it is such a hot real estate item why has it been empty for five years? I respect your sentiment, but tear that schitt down.