I think Detroit was something that NYC and Chicago was not at the time,a world class city because it was also impacting and shaping the world.

In the gilded age you see massive private homes that were built influenced by the owners world travels and incorporating those architectural styles into their private homes,just like the country estates built in the UK.

Detroit is really the only city in this country where you see that influence in what would be considered mundane buildings,it also shows the mindset back then of how the citizens understood the role they were playing on the world stage.

Even back then those were expensive to build and they could have saved costs by just building plain non descript buildings,but they did not they built showcases because they knew the eyes of the world were upon them.

I can see how it one lives there they just become another building but they are special and I agree that they need to be seriously looked at on the national level as national treasures that were built in an important time in history.