Could Detroit Do This? Moving a Church Building

**kathy2trips** · February-05-10, 03:23 PM

"N.Y. church's move to Georgia: 'Preservation by relocation'?"

They're moving this one from NY to GA! I've always thought this was so much better than building new churches, many of which look like glorified cracker boxes, let's face it.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religio...churches_N.htm

**DetroitPlanner** · February-05-10, 03:44 PM

Can we? Heck we've done it! Mariner's Church was moved twice. Why would we want to move a church to GA anyways?

**lizaanne** · February-05-10, 03:54 PM

Wow - what a concept!! Well, the buildings at Greenfield Village were all moved there from all over the country, and the world I believe. I can't see why a church can't be moved the same way. I like the idea - but it does leave holes in the landscape to be sure. But what's worse - a hole or a bombed out building that looks like Sarayavo after an attack?

lilpup · February-05-10, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Can we? Heck we've done it! Mariner's Church was moved twice.

Don't forget about moving the Gem, too.

**Gsgeorge** · February-05-10, 04:45 PM

I would like to see significant architectural structures and usable homes moved out of decommissioned neighborhoods in Detroit and brought closer to downtown, midtown, and woodbridge, corktown, and other vibrant but "gap-filled" neighborhoods in the core. Also bring the homes to Old Redford, University Heights, the villages & elsewhere there is activity. It would retain our city's character while at the same time ridding the city of blighted neighborhoods and turn them over to farms. Realistically, probably a lot of long-time residents would oppose this plan. But I can see it working better than other cities coming in and taking our building.

**Lowell** · February-05-10, 04:57 PM

First Methodist was sawed out in the middle and the steeple moved east for a widening of Woodward. "...all things are possible to him that believeth."

**Savoyard** · February-05-10, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Can we? Heck we've done it! Mariner's Church was moved twice. Why would we want to move a church to GA anyways?

I was only aware of one move. What was the second?

Bearinabox · February-05-10, 08:27 PM

Might be a solution for that church in Delray that's surrounded on three sides by the sewage treatment plant. Can't see it being reused any other way. It's pretty hard to market a building with open pools of shit on three sides of it.

**Patrick** · February-05-10, 10:23 PM

A number of structures were "defaced" when Woodward was widened. But at least they weren't moved 1500 miles away.

**Whitehouse** · February-05-10, 11:08 PM

Then again....
If Detroit does it, it can also end in desaster. Old Slumpy comes to mind....

**Neilr** · February-05-10, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick

A number of structures were "defaced" when Woodward was widened. But at least they weren't moved 1500 miles away.

One of my favorite Detroit photos shows how Central Methodist Church dealt with the widening of Woodward. In 1936 a section of the nave was cut out and the entire Woodward Ave. facade including its 200' spire was moved back 30' to rejoin the remainder of the nave.

It was as if the church were a loaf of Wonder Bread and slices 5-9 were removed and slices 1-4 were pushed back to join the remainder of the loaf.

The picture is from This Is Detroit, 250 years in pictures, [[M.M. Quaife, 1951)

**wolverine** · February-06-10, 01:12 AM

Hey why not. And there's tons of hopeless abandoned apartment buildings scattered around Detroit neighborhoods. Have someone in a different city buy up all the bricks and limestone, and just demo the rest of the building and reassemble it on a new structure elsewhere. Otherwise the valuable materials just end up being destroyed by fire, the elements, and obviously demolition.

**kathy2trips** · March-14-10, 04:45 AM

With all this talk of the city "downsizing", I could see how moving structures could become a lucrative business, even "green" business. You'd think the government would give tax breaks to people in that sort of business [[ also architectural salvage, vintage building materials dealers, renovation specialists, etc.), with all this talk of "green" industries. It's expensive to have a business in Detroit, so I'm sure every little bit would help.

**detroitbob** · March-14-10, 06:04 AM

Central Methodist was truncated by the project to widen Woodward as the office building to the east prohibited the building being move in total. St. John's Episcopal was fortunate enough to be moved intact, the chapel behind the building being taken down and rebuilt after the main church was moved. In the case of St. John's Writ Rowland of Guardian Bldg. fame, supervised the plans for the move and the renovations of the interior and also designed a new altar and reredos along with woodwork for the chapel. At the time of the move St. John's was the heaviest building ever to be moved. The tower, however was dismantled and rebuilt to the original design. When the freeway bridge over I75 and Woodward was being rebuilt several years ago, the workers uncovered the original foundations and water mains leading to the church. The church was able to obtain a number of foundation stones and the workers presented the rector with a piece of the tar covered hollow wooden water main. The stones used in the original construction came from a quarry at Kelly island in the Detroit river channel

**mcsdetroitfriend** · March-14-10, 11:37 AM

I recall an episode of "Megamovers" or something similar to that and there was a rather large building, not a church, moved on it. .Can't remember what it was. I think it was for Comerica though

**Gistok** · March-14-10, 03:16 PM

I remember as a young child when they built Finney High School. Some of the houses in the way of the construction were moved rather than razed. I remember a few large houses being moved down our street... Marseilles St. Since Marseilles was wider than the other streets near Finney [[Marseilles had the widest easement of any street in the area)... the houses were sent down our street.... not sure where they ended up though?

**EMG** · March-14-10, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

I remember as a young child when they built Finney High School. Some of the houses in the way of the construction were moved rather than razed. I remember a few large houses being moved down our street... Marseilles St. Since Marseilles was wider than the other streets near Finney [[Marseilles had the widest easement of any street in the area)... the houses were sent down our street.... not sure where they ended up though?

Wow now that is interesting. Being younger, I never knew the area "Pre-Finney." [[I do, however, remember when they added on to the front of Finney, I guess toward the end of the '70s if I remember correctly, and I remember what the front of Finney that looked like from Cadieux before that add-on was added).

**Gistok** · March-14-10, 03:47 PM

EMG,

Although I remember the houses going down our street... I don't remember what Finney looked like when it was still just an Elementary School, before they expanded it with the first set of additions. I don't know if [[for example) Oldtown, Bluehill or Guilford streets continued south of Southampton [[sidestreet that is the northern perimeter of Finney), and don't remember where these moved houses were originally located.

**Patrick** · March-14-10, 04:31 PM

Hey, they even moved the Ford mansion in Windmill Pointe from along the river. Yep, they carted it off by boat lol. JK. It was taken down bit by bit and rebuilt along with several other homes on the former Gold Coast. One is a Kahn design on Provencal.

**EMG** · March-14-10, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

EMG,

Although I remember the houses going down our street... I don't remember what Finney looked like when it was still just an Elementary School, before they expanded it with the first set of additions. I don't know if [[for example) Oldtown, Bluehill or Guilford streets continued south of Southampton [[sidestreet that is the northern perimeter of Finney), and don't remember where these moved houses were originally located.

I don't remember when it was an elementary school [[may have been before my time) but what I am talking about remembering is when [[boy I wish I could easily Google up an old picture - maybe somebody here has one?!) you looked at the front of Finney from Cadieux, there used to be a couple of long curved metal pieces going out and downward from the clock on the front of the building. Mentally I used to associate the whole effect with Sally Field in The Flying Nun - with the clock being the face and the jutting out metal things the ends of the nun's hat!

This was all when I was in the low-single-digit ages in the mid-60's and riding past Finney in my mom's car as we headed to and from shopping in the Grosse Pointe Village.

**ddaydetroit** · March-14-10, 05:13 PM

John B kings book store was also moved

**kathy2trips** · March-14-10, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

EMG,
Although I remember the houses going down our street... I don't remember what Finney looked like when it was still just an Elementary School, before they expanded it with the first set of additions. ......

Here's something peculiar: The R.L. Polk City Directory for 1928-29 lists Finney as "Finney annex to Hanstein 5281 Guilford av". Hanstein Elementary is listed as being at 4290 Marseilles!

Attachment 5489

And I found this link from the John K. King web site: http://www.rarebooklink.com/cgi-bin/kingbooks/about.html?id=L8zyCNxM. Yes, it was moved in 1949 to spare it from demolition by the freeway going in...some 16 years before King started his store.

**canuck** · March-15-10, 09:19 AM

The idea of moving buildings within the city of Detroit to specific clusters is pretty interesting. If neighborhoods are rehabbed into town centers such as the AIA envisages, then a number of buildings could be moved to sites of lower density to accomodate these areas. One architecture student from Paris built his thesis on Detroit disubanization where he proposes moving residences to restore higher density around wide expanses. His thesis can be seen on issuu.com, a portfolio site. You can find it if you enter "Detroit". You can dowload the documents [[french).

Here is Montreal church The Erskine and American church on Sherbrooke street that no longer serves and will be integrated via a tunnel to the Montreal museum of Fine Arts. They are restoring the stained glass windows. The largest ensemble of such work by Tiffany in the world.

Here are pics of the American and Erskine; front and back rehab. And The Christ church cathedral which needed to have a new foundation beacuse of the clay soil. Then an underground shopping plaza was built underneath it and a 34 story tower behind it in 1987-8.

**canuck** · March-15-10, 09:22 AM

Here are the pics, sorry!

**kryptonite** · March-15-10, 10:12 AM

Moving a building is one thing and obviously doable to an extent. But the news article indicates that the issue is whether the abandoned Buffalo, NY church could be disassembled and shipped in pieces to northern Georgia and re-constructed? I would have to think the cost of such a project would be astronomical. But maybe not? Are there any architects/engineers on Detroit Yes that have an opinion?