How Much Time do the Book Building's Cherub Clock and caryatids have Left

[Lonyo exit]

If you're such a "history buff" then why would you spray-paint your dumb-ass name on a historic building?

[Lorax]

I started this thread to raise awareness, to be vigilant in keeping a watch on this superb pair of buildings, I'm sure we can all agree that's a good thing.

I doubt any scrappers are reading this forum, quite a leap to assume many of them can read, or own a computer.

If the building was once open, it most likely will be again, guard or no guard. The Lee Plaza has certainly hundreds of cars going by on any given day, and still the copper roof and terracotta lion heads were stolen. I called the cops myself, and was told they don't have the resources to send a car for property crimes.

And people wonder if the caryatids will be stolen in broad daylight?

Does anyone remember back in the late 80's when the lamp posts and railings designed by Samuel Yellin on the terraces of the DPL were stolen in the middle of the night?

You do know that cops noticed what appeared to be an official city work crew in safety orange and hardhats with lights on, removing them, at night, and did nothing.

Next morning it was all over the news. The railing inserts and lamp posts were stolen. The irreplaceable bronze work was "found" at a scrapper's yard, whom, everyone thought was a good samaritan, who called the city, saying he had these items, and paid cash to some guys, but thought the better of it, before melting them down.

Truth is, the city had to pay this guy to get the stuff back, and no doubt kickbacks were handed to one of CAY's cronies in this obviously planned pillage. The follow-up to the story was buried, and no one went to jail over this.

Detroit has a history of this kind of crap going on, and the DPL case wasn't an isolated incident.

Please, let's keep a watch ouselves, since the city, most building owners, and the police have no interest in doing so.

[EastSider]

I doubt any scrappers are reading this forum, quite a leap to assume many of them can read, or own a computer.

Wasn't there a guy on here in the past year or so who openly admitted being a scrapper? The poster I'm thinking of had some kind of eye problem or something.

[Gsgeorge]

If you're such a "history buff" then why would you spray-paint your dumb-ass name on a historic building?

First off I didn't spray-paint it, and I never would use spray paint or any kind of paint because that actually causes damage. I'm not one for tagging, and never have before, but this was a bit different because, well, look at the photo above. It's like if you climbed Devil's Tower in Wyoming, wouldn't you carve your name in a rock up there? We went once, we knew we'd never be back, and we wanted to leave a little proof behind. So we scrawled "I was here" and our nicknames and the date on a small part of the roof.

I used a non-permanent black marker on a metal piece of the building's upper roof that was out-of-sight from the public and anyone who would be using the building on a daily basis. The only people who would ever see it would be utility people and the occasional urban explorer. I honestly thought my little 4-inch-by-4-inch "I was here" tag would wash off after a few weeks of sun, snow, and rain, and it probably has. I'm not exactly painting "WARD" all over the windows or "GARY" on the copper roof in huge 8-foot-tall letters. If you can't see the difference then I don't know what to tell you. I didn't do it to tout my 'tagger name' or get exposure or whatever these guys do. It was no different to me than carving your initials and the date in a tree at the top of the Alligator Hill overlook in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Immature, maybe, but not anything that is going to destroy or compromise the Park's status as a National Lakeshore -- or in this case, compromise the historic integrity of the building.

I'm not endorsing trespassing. I would be happy to pay the fine if it was levied against me. I think it's for the better if the building remains sealed and I hope to see it restored in the future, and would fight tirelessly to save it if the DEGC threatened to bring it down.