Jump to content

An Afternoon Walk Through Downtown Detroit


Allan

Recommended Posts

A Walk Through Downtown, Part I of IV

These were all taken on Thursday. I had quite a day. The photos are not actually in the order I took them. The first few are actually the last ones I took. Enjoy!

From left to right, the First National Bank Building, Comerica Tower, & the Bank One Building

DET0001.jpg

Water Board Building

DET0002.jpg

Outside the Dime Building

DET0003.jpg

Guardian Building

DET0004.jpg

1001 Woodward and the Compuware Building

DET0005.jpg

David Stott Building

DET0006.jpg

Around the corner is Fort Street. The Penobscot building is on the left. To the right of the Penobscot Building is the Old Penobscot Building.

DET0007.jpg

Clock on the Penobscot Building

DET0008.jpg

Penobscot Building

DET0010.jpg

Looking South down Griswold Street

DET0009.jpg

Quite possibly the worst photo of the Windsor skyline ever taken.

DET0011.jpg

This was the first really nice day this year, so there were many boats out on the river.

DET0013.jpg

The Renaissance Center from the Riverfront

DET0012.jpg

One Woodward & the Guradian Building

DET0014.jpg

DET0016.jpg

The Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. This is quite possibly the most hideous building downtown, although the politics and corruption that occur inside are much worse.

DET0015.jpg

Old Mariners Church

DET0017.jpg

DET0018.jpg

Looking down Jefferson toward the Renaissance Center entrance

DET0019.jpg

Looking the other way down Jefferson Avenue

DET0020.jpg

Comerica Tower from Larned Street. The parking garage at the right is where Two Detroit Center, Comerica's twin, was supposed to rise. But since this is Detroit, they decided to build a parking garage instead.

DET0021.jpg

The base of Comerica Tower. The main entrance is around the corner on Woodward Avenue.

DET0022.jpg

Comerica Tower from the intersection of Woodward and Larned

DET0025.jpg

The Guardian Building

DET0023.jpg

DET0030.jpg

Looking north up Woodward Avenue

DET0026.jpg

Welcome to Comerica Tower!

DET0027.jpg

DET0031.jpg

The structure connecting Comerica Tower & its parking garage.

Between the Guardian Building and the Bank One Building, we catch a glimpse of the Ford Building.

DET0028.jpg

Looking down Congress Street

DET0029.jpg

Cadillac Tower dominates Cadillac Square

DET0034.jpg

Scaffolding covers the tower of the Wayne County Building

DET0035.jpg

The Wayne County Building

DET0036.jpg

DET0037.jpg

DET0039.jpg

The Millender Center (left) and the Renaissance Center

DET0038.jpg

Cadillac Square Apartments

DET0040.jpg

The Lawyers Building, which is slated to become lofts

DET0041.jpg

Michigan Avenue

DET0042.jpg

Detroit's angled avenues downtown mean there's quite a few irregularly shaped buildings like this one.

DET0043.jpg

The Lawyers Building

DET0044.jpg

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 3
  • Created
  • Last Reply

What is the Detroiters view on The Renaissance Center? Do they like it? Did it work in bringing more people downtown?

It looks terribly out of place and not particularly urban, more like an office park, that just happens to be downtown. I know next to nothing about detroit though, so I'm ready to be enlightned.

I like the Ford building. Nice shots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is the Detroiters view on The Renaissance Center? Do they like it? Did it work in bringing more people downtown?

It looks terribly out of place and not particularly urban, more like an office park, that just happens to be downtown. I know next to nothing about detroit though, so I'm ready to be enlightned.

I like the Ford building. Nice shots.

Well, the Ren Cen is more often than not viewed as a necessary evil. GM has moved thousands of employees into the building, and has worked to improve its connection with the rest of downtown. Until recently, the Ren Cen had berms around the complex, totally separating it from downtown. GM had the berms removed. Basically, what GM has done is made an architectural disaster at least bearable. It is attracting more stores and restaurants to downtown, which is a good thing, but at the same time, these stores should be in the vacant storefronts along the streets, not inside the Ren Cen complex. If the stores and restaurants in the Ren Cen were along throughfares like Woodward and Washington, people would be amazed. It would be like Chicago, but on a much smaller scale. The city would be alive again. Granted, retail is slowly coming to these corridors, but it's a double edged sword. The residents don't want to move in until the stores are downtown, and the stores don't want to move in until there are residents downtown. So the revitalization is occuring, albeit slower than everyone would like. Momentum is starting to build as far as downtown projects go. I can't wait to see Detroit in a few years!

Back to the Ren Cen...it is built away from the main skyline, but it's something that I kind of like. It allows the city to have an old, 1920s skyline, and a modern day skyline. It's unique to Detroit. I cannot think of any cities anywhere else in the world that have this type of arrangement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.