150 W Jefferson

[baldy]

I have a question to what the official name of the Madden building is. Every one and most of the websites I go to call it the Madden building, but what I read was that it is known by it's address which is 150 West Jefferson, although it is often referred as the Madden building after Denver developer John Madden (-from AIA guide to Detroit architecture). This is the only publication that I have found with any information.

I have tried to contact the architectural firm, Heller Manus, and the company which bought the building last year, but neither will respond.

So which is it and where have everyone else gotten their information from?

[Allan]

I always call it 150 West Jefferson, and I think the majority of the people in Detroit call it 150 West Jefferson. However, Skyscrapers.com calls it the Madden Building. So I think either is acceptable.

BTW, Welcome to the forum.

[baldy]

I finally got a hold of Heller Manus yesterday. Their statement was that the project was called 150 west jefferson and it was leased as the same. So that's good enough for me.

Also, they said they would get me building dimensions for this which will take a lot of guess work out of creating it in Gmax.

I help out at skyscrapers.com and am trying to fix/improve many of the things on the Detroit page. They call it the Madden building, which I was sure was wrong, but you need to have definitive information before they will change or add anything.

Alan, have you thought about volunteering for them as a photographer? That's what I am and you can still contribute information to the editors to make changes, you just can't do it yourself. You seam to take a lot of pictures down there and also appreciate the architecture that's down there. In addition, you come across a lot of cool information, which is why I came over here from simtropolis. Thanks for bringing me over! It's good to find a place where people can share information and discuss what's going on.

[Allan]

Alan, have you thought about volunteering for them as a photographer? That's what I am and you can still contribute information to the editors to make changes, you just can't do it yourself. You seam to take a lot of pictures down there and also appreciate the architecture that's down there. In addition, you come across a lot of cool information, which is why I came over here from simtropolis. Thanks for bringing me over! It's good to find a place where people can share information and discuss what's going on.

I have thought about it. It would be much easier if I lived closer to the city, however. I live more than 60 miles from Detroit, so getting there can be a challenge. Fortunately I'm moving to Southfield in August, so getting downtown to take photos will be much easier.

I'm glad you're enjoying Urban Planet! It's always nice to meet people who also appreciate the architecture and buildings found in Detroit.

[baldy]

If you take 500 pictures on a trip down there, I don't think you have to have to worry! You should reconsider because metro-Detroit needs a lot work and we could really use someone like you, not only for the pictures, but the knowledge. I really need to go back down there again, but am having a tough time with everything going on.

You'll be close to me when you move to Southfield! I'm in the NE corner of Livonia. Just out of curiousity, are you going to move in to the high rises near the civic centers? Kind of like living in a downtown.

[Allan]

I will apply later tonight or tomorrow. My native city of Flint could use some help too. It might not have many skyscrapers, but it is very underrepresented on skyscrapers.com.

When I move to Southfield, I will be moving into the dorms at Lawrence Tech (I'm studying architecture there). So unless you consider the 9-story dorm on 10 Mile a highrise, I won't be moving to a highrise anytime soon. The campus is literally a stone's throw away from the towers you are talking about though. In case you don't know, the campus is at 10 Mile and the Lodge. Many people don't even know it's there! Myabe I will end up moving to one of the skyscrapers someday...you never know. I'd prefer downtown Detroit, but the Prudential Town Center is the closest thing Southfield has to a downtown.

In many ways, moving to Southfield is like going back to my roots. My mom grew up off 12 Mile near Evergreen, less than three miles from where I will be living. The only thing is that when she lived there much of Southfield was still open land. Detroit sure has sprawled out of control!

[Allan]

I should add that there are quite a few interesting topics on metro Detroit here. There's old photos of malls, for example. There's even one from when Northland was surrounded by farmland! It's amazing how much this place has grown in only 50 years. (See this thread.)

Also, my mini Southfield tour can be found here. There's not much to this tour, but once I move down there (4 months from Wednesday!), there will be plenty of photo tours of the area.

[baldy]

I know exactly where LT is! You should have a great view from the 10 story dorm! I have been contemplating going back to school for architecture and looked at LT. I could only take night classes because of my job, but it turns out that they would have me take all the undergraduate classes which is a problem because I have already have a degree and would basically be retaking many of the clasess for a cost of $500/credit.

By the way, I was hoping to see some photo's of the base of 150 w Jefferson in your photo tour since I don't have any. Do you have any I could use? Unfortunately, I don't take pictures of the base of buildings very often and won't be able to make it down there for a while. I will still be starting the model of this buiding, though.

[Allan]

I looked seriously at LTU & the University of Michigan. I ultimately decided to go with LTU because it provides much more practical education, whereas U of M is mostly theoretical.

I'll look for photos of the base of 150 West Jefferson. I have all kinds of photos, so there could be one somewhere. I have nearly 1000 additional photos of Detroit on my computer that I did not take myself, so I must have one somewhere! If not, I'll get one the next time I go downtown (which unfortunately may not be for some time). Living 60 miles from the city makes going downtown terribly inconvenient.

[Chow]

Heh, I just looked through my photo collections and realized that a don't have any clear shots of 150 West Jeffersons base. Imagine that.

Anyway, downtown is only 15 minutes, give or take depending on traffic, from LTU. You should do a photo tour of LTU's campus, I can't really remember what it looks like. Heh, maybe I'll do one of UDM.

[Allan]

I'll do an LTU tour, but that probably won't happen until I move down there in August...unless I can do it when I go in June, but I probably won't have time. And I'll also be able to make more downtown photo tours because I'll be 15 minutes from downtown instead of 1 hour & 15 minutes from downtown.