What was demolished behind the Cliff Bells?

[Whitehouse]

I was browsing Buildings of Detroit, just having some time left, and I came across the Cliff Bells. Being the nutcase that I am I search Bing and Google maps for the location to see what the building looks like now. Pretty decent, but my eye caught something else. At the W Elisabeth street side of the building stood a cherry picker and they were doing some work on the top of the building.



I thought, okay, some renovation. But that I took a look at Google maps as well and that picture tells a who different story. The whole top is coming down. A small building it is but again, this looks like another [[relatively) small dinosaur is gone from the center. Who can tell something about that building? From the looks of it, it wasn't in a state of direpair.

[gumby]

Wasn't that all part of the Adams Theater?

[Whitehouse]

Wasn't that all part of the Adams Theater?

Thanks, Solved/


Still nothing that replaces it? What was the point?

[EastsideAl]

Still nothing that replaces it? What was the point?

That's my question about most things that are torn down around here, since so little of the destruction of our built heritage in Detroit seems to result in meaningful replacement [[or replacement takes a generation or more, as with the Kern Block Compuware site). Just either surface parking or a rubble-strewn lot,

The answer always seems to be "well, it was old and we weren't using it anyway" or "we might have used it, but we left it open to trespass and, oops, it was stripped and/or burned and will now cost too much to repair" or "it's in imminent danger of collapse" [[despite the fact that it, and similar buildings all over the country, have stood collapse-free for many decades), and almost always "future developers [[and at this point wholly theoretical ones) will be much happier with a pre-cleared site, so we'll just do the work for them." Of course, one of the not-so-well-hidden secrets behind all of this is that demolition is one of the few lucrative industries around here, and one that is deeply tied to government and those who do the governing. Or, in the case of Mike Illitch who tore down the Adams, deeply tied to those who have the most influence with the government. There is money to be made, and campaign contributions to be generated [[and, some would say, kickbacks to be gotten), from all that destruction.

[5speedz34]

I didn't know the Adams Theater went all the way back to Elisabeth! The roof and most of the internal structure was caved in. They kept the facade though which can be seen reinforced from Adams St.

Go here for a play by play: http://................com/phpbb/vie...php?f=4&t=2308

[Whitehouse]

I didn't know the Adams Theater went all the way back to Elisabeth! The roof and most of the internal structure was caved in. They kept the facade though which can be seen reinforced from Adams St.

Go here for a play by play: http://................com/phpbb/vie...php?f=4&t=2308

\
Er...

Dead link.\

The Adams theater WAS at Elisabeth street. Only the enterence was at the Fine Arts buidling.

[leland_palmer]

I have some coverage http://fadeddetroit.blogspot.com/200...phase-one.html

[Hornwrecker]

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[Whitehouse]

I have some coverage http://fadeddetroit.blogspot.com/200...phase-one.html

Didn't work at first, but double clicking on the pictures worked.

Great picutres!

[Gistok]

I didn't know the Adams Theater went all the way back to Elisabeth! The roof and most of the internal structure was caved in. They kept the facade though which can be seen reinforced from Adams St.

Go here for a play by play: http://................com/phpbb/vie...php?f=4&t=2308

The Adams Theatre was built later [[1917) than the earlier Fine Arts Building. When they built the Adams Theatre auditorium in 1916-17, they put a small lobby and staircase into the eastern part of the Fine Arts Building, as the theatre entrance.

The Adams was known as an "Alley Jumper"... where main floor patrons accessed the auditorium via a tunnel ramp [[in the Fine Arts Building) "under" the alley, and balcony patrons took the stairs up a level [[in the Fine Arts Building) and crossed over to the Adams auditorium via a skybridge over the alley.

The Fine Arts Building was structurally made of wood... and the lack of roof maintenance caused a partial collapse of the Fine Arts interior. But the Detroit Historical Commission denied the demolition of the facade... so there it sits for future use.

[wolverine]

The Adams theater was a brick shell. The interior was incredibly destroyed. Structurally, it was probably okay and could have been saved.

The Fine Arts could not be saved. It would be impossible. You can't renovate a collapsed structure....though it's a shame some parts of the interior weren't salvaged...although removal of a door would probably cause the rest of it to come down.

[EastsideAl]

My friends and I used to take the bus downtown and go there for the weekend matinees sometimes when I was a kid. The Adams was, as I remember, a little cheaper than the Fox or the Palms, and in generally better condition that the Madison or the Grand Circus [[the future Opera House). I do remember that long walk to get into the theater itself from the Adams entrance. I didn't realize at the time that we were actually going through the front building and across the alley to get into the theater.

The Adams theater was a brick shell. The interior was incredibly destroyed. Structurally, it was probably okay and could have been saved.

The Fine Arts could not be saved. It would be impossible. You can't renovate a collapsed structure....though it's a shame some parts of the interior weren't salvaged...although removal of a door would probably cause the rest of it to come down.

Of course both buildings could have been saved if they had remained in use, or if anyone had thought to seal them from the elements and trespassers, or even if someone who had the power [[i.e. other than my mother, who constantly complains to city officials, Illitch Holdings <aka Illitch Demolitions>, and others about their destruction by willful neglect of our city's considerable built heritage) had given a flying damn. There are plenty of buildings and theaters that age and much older still standing and in use elsewhere in the country, and even many that have been brought back and renovated to productive use after being in worse shape than these buildings were.

[Gistok]

The Adams theater was a brick shell. The interior was incredibly destroyed. Structurally, it was probably okay and could have been saved.

The Fine Arts could not be saved. It would be impossible. You can't renovate a collapsed structure....though it's a shame some parts of the interior weren't salvaged...although removal of a door would probably cause the rest of it to come down.

Wolverine, were you ever in the "On Stage" Restaurant that used to be in the Fine Arts Building?

I was there once in the 1990s, and the tall restaurant consisted of 5 stage sets that folks sat in... sort of a Broadway theme. I remember one set was a French Bistro with a metal Eifel Tower as a backdrop, another was an Art Deco dining car train theme... piggybacked on top of that one was an oceanliner theme with railings all around and life preservers.

All in all it was pretty cool. Sadly however, I believe that all the cool artwork and furnishings were left there [[someone posted some images on their blog showing the restaurant remains) and I believe it all ended up in the debris heap during demolition.

A sad loss of what could have been reused as a cool restaurant theme elsewhere in the Theatre District.

[REL]

Still nothing that replaces it? What was the point?

LMAO. Oh, Detroit! You!

[kathy2trips]

But the Detroit Historical Commission denied the demolition of the facade... so there it sits for future use.

Well, that's a small something, anyway. Thank goodness for them. Still, I'm most angry at negligent owners. They should be compelled to "mothball" a dormant building for future use, with fines/per day for non-compliance. The penalties should be stiff and steep for scrappers and b&e artists. Hours and hours of picking up trash all over Detroit sounds like a fine idea. Not much energy left after that to go and try to take what's not yours.

[wolverine]

Wolverine, were you ever in the "On Stage" Restaurant that used to be in the Fine Arts Building?

I was there once in the 1990s, and the tall restaurant consisted of 5 stage sets that folks sat in... sort of a Broadway theme. I remember one set was a French Bistro with a metal Eifel Tower as a backdrop, another was an Art Deco dining car train theme... piggybacked on top of that one was an oceanliner theme with railings all around and life preservers.

All in all it was pretty cool. Sadly however, I believe that all the cool artwork and furnishings were left there [[someone posted some images on their blog showing the restaurant remains) and I believe it all ended up in the debris heap during demolition.

A sad loss of what could have been reused as a cool restaurant theme elsewhere in the Theatre District.

Yep, way back in 2004 when the place was wide open. You could just walk right in the restaurant off the street. Despite that 5 floors above had come down into the center of it, pretty much all the props and themed areas on the perimeter were still intact. I always thought that old fireplace was cool.

The thing that was great about the Fine Arts is it hadn't really been modified over the years. Still had all its transom windows exposed and many door frames and trim had their original varnish. As I mentioned earlier, I wish alot of that could have been rescued. The building didn't see much vandalism as you might expect. In fact most of the interior windows were still intact with the exception of everything in the vortex of destruction....which we know was caused by a leaky roof....which we know is caused by lack of maintenance and neglect.