[Allan]

This thread is to share your photos of the Statler Hotel as demolition of Detroit's once grand hotel progresses.

[Allan]

On Wednesday, February 16, work crews had started to remove some of the windows.

The view from Washington Boulevard.


There's not much activity here yet, with the exception of the removal of some of the Coleman Young era awnings.


On the Bagley Avenue side, an elevator has been erected.


The Statler from the Tuller lot. Soon the Statler will be another gaping hole in the city's urban fabric.

[Allan]

On Saturday, February 20, all was quiet at the Statler.

The view from Times Square. You can see where crews removed many of the windows in the 1916 addition.




The view from Clifford and Bagley


The Bagley Avenue side






The Statler from Park and Adams


Not much is visible from this angle, but that will surely change over the next week or so.


Crews are just over half done removing the windows from the Washington side.

[SNWEB]

Compare to June 04

[Brother Ray]

Any bets on how long the People Mover will be down once the Statler crashes into it?

Those pictures are truly sad. I'll swing by and pay my respects tomorrow during lunch.

- BR

[Allan]

Grab some photos if you can. I was kind of hoping to get a kind of archive of the so-called "progress" going in this thread. A lot of us only make it downtown a couple times per week at best.

Whatever happened to building that plywood enclosure over the people mover? I guess they decided it would be more cost effective to just let the bricks fall on the track. After all, it's no big deal if the people mover doesn't run during the Super Bowl, right?

<hijack>
If I had it my way I'd be living downtown (and hence able to get photos of the day by day progress), but there aren't really many options for downtown living. It looks like midtown is my best bet. </hijack>

[Brother Ray]

Here are some photos I took on Thursday (2/24) during lunch. Of particular note is the distance between the Statler and the People Mover. My buddy and I both estimated 8-10 feet clearence MAX! Not much room for error.

[Allan]

Nice photos, Ray. They were working on the Statler as I left Detroit about midnight. I never expected to see them working at midnight on a Saturday night!

[bobliocatt]

What a depressing thread. When are the planning to explode the building?

[Allan]

No explosion here. They are taking it down brick by brick (and will be dropping a few on the People Mover tracks in the process).

[Allan]

Here are some photos from Saturday, February 26. I was surprised to see workers at the Statler working with spotlights shortly after midnight. They must be getting bonuses if they can get the building down earlier.

[Jonzo]

I don't know what else to say...

[Allan]

It is sad, but the building would cost a lot to repair. Repairing it would involve building a scaffolding around the exterior, attaching it to the facade, removing the internal structure, and putting in new supports and floors. The floors in the Statler are sagging from having had no maintenance in 30 years. They used a much different method to construct floors back then. When properly maintained the flooring system is fine, but when it isn't maintained the floors tend to sag. If they saved the ornamentation (which I'm sure they won't, this being Detroit and all), they could probably build a new Statler for cheaper than the cost to renovate the existing structure.

[rbdetsport]

Allan, on Mar 1 2005, 06:21 PM, said:

If they saved the ornamentation (which I'm sure they won't, this being Detroit and all), they could probably build a new Statler for cheaper than the cost to renovate the existing structure.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It wouldn't be at all the same. AT ALL.....

[Allan]

How would it not be the same? Besides the details, everything else is just common everyday brick.

[rbdetsport]

Allan, on Mar 5 2005, 10:02 PM, said:

How would it not be the same?  Besides the details, everything else is just common everyday brick.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am talking about the original Italian Renaissance style. With all of the original details.

[Allan]

None of the original details are left inside. The hotel was stripped of its details in the 1960s. I had a workman snap a couple photos inside the lobby for me. It looks like a bomb went off in there. There definately isn't anything inside that can or should be saved.

[wolverine]

It's up to the demolition company to save the ornamental detail on the exterior. In most cases they do. Although it depends on how easy it is to remove. It looks like they tried on that cornice in one of the photos and failed. A good example of facade preservation would be in Ann Arbor where the university keeps a lot of the decorative facades of its long gone buildings in storage building on South Campus. They usually try, but can't always integrate them into brand new buildings on campus. Therefore, the pieces are sold off to developers for use in other buildings.

[Allan]

I'm pretty sure they just chipped off that detailing to make it easier to install the elevator. The base is made up of rather large pieces of stone...I'm not sure how easy it would be to remove. I would imagine that it is attached quite well, but I don't really know.

[Ron Newman]

Why is this being demolished?

When Boston's Statler Hilton closed in the late 1970s, a local group quickly bought it and reopened it as the Boston Park Plaza. It's still open today and quite popular.