Category: A reason to drink
Posted by Dave Krieger on Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 9:07 AMWhere is Motown's sense of history?
Where is Detroitââ,¬â"¢s soul?
It is its music; it is its people; it is its art. It is the grit and determination and the daily battles to stay alive in hard times.
Are Detroiters, real Detroiters? Or do we rest on the comfort and creativity of our forbearers and have we ultimately failed them?
The soon to be destroyed Michigan Central has been an epoch architectural masterpiece for decades. Whether in itââ,¬â"¢s hey day as the hub of communication with the rest of the world or as a symbol of the demise of the post-industrial existence that we find our selves in today. It has survived as we all do weathering the storms of winter and the apathy of a population more concerned with the new then with the character of who we our.
The loss of any more architectural gems in this city is akin to the painting over of the Diego Rivera murals in the DIA for a newer, fresher and certainly less esteemed successor or imagine the next immigrant population bulldozing the Charles Wright Museum because the majority is no longer in power and itââ,¬â"¢s importance to the next population is diminished. We must remember that to be a Detroiter does not include a test of color but oneââ,¬â"¢s love for the city and region we are from. To be a Detroiter is to embrace the fabric of the city and the differences it holds. We are not living in homogenized homes with circle courts and a strip mall absent of any beauty or style every three miles.
Architecture builds and defines the fabric of our city. We are blessed with so many architectural gems but yet each year through apathy, neglect and sheer stupidity we allow these to slowly meet the wrecking ball and are lost forever in the name of progress. And what is the progress? Is it another empty lot with the promise of development in a sea of empty lots, which have been promised for development for years.
What progress will we receive from the demise of the great Michigan Central? It is Detroitââ,¬â"¢s version of the Parthenon. Another empty vacant land filled with littler and plastic bags flying about its majestic tomb?
Wake up Detroit!!!! Look around you!
Has anyone not traveled the streets of Detroit and not been saddened, dismayed and depressed by the many empty holes where we once had majestic buildings or homes for families? This is this moment that we need to collect ourselves and stand firm in the face of economic misery, embrace our relics and hope that someday we can achieve a balance between new and old. Ken Cockrel, Dave Bing, I suggest you visit the new Westin or Doubletree hotels!
The architecture in this city holds some of the keys to our past. It connects us to a greater understanding of Detroit and what it means to be Detroiters. We need to embrace our past despite our racial differences, the importance of symbolism from one generation to another. What is important to this generation may well be destroyed by the next.
Architecture is a form of art. We may as well sell the masterpieces at the Detroit Institute of Arts to balance our budget because clearly we have no intelligence to recognize our glorious past and embrace our future, no matter how bleak at the same time.
It is time to look beyond petty racial and economic differences. Embrace our selves as Detroiters as a whole and protect our legacy. And what is our legacy? The dreams and creations of our forebears, Cadillac, Cass, Woodward, Ford, Kahn, Gordy, autoworkers, immigrants and small business owners and countless others whose daily contributions have created the dynamic we call Detroit.
Are we to let the dreams of our forebears fail? If not then we need to stop digging holes in our city and hope for that Applebeeââ,¬â"¢s franchise. Our city, our citizens, and our future deserve more. We need leadership and energy. Not another tragic demise at the wrecking ball.
Comments
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Fallen architecture
I totally agree. Other major cities/metro areas seem to find a way to preserve its past. I have been saying for years that Detroit does not care about the history of the old buildings and institutions we have been blessed with - Little Harry's (thanks Anita), the Fish Aquarium (Belle Isle, actually)and I will never stop squawking about Tiger Stadium. And many more! It's refreshing that your paper has blog about art and architecture, I discovered them today. Keep up the good work. Maybe some day, someone will get it!
J. Ziembroski, Southfield, MI
Renovate & Reuse the Michigan Central Train Depot
Our historic Michigan Central Train Depot is an absolutely irreplacable, one-of-kind architectural gem of a building in Detroit that deserves to be the next Book-Cadillac. Use the demolition funds to be the 1st layer of financing to renovate this grand building that can be and should be preserved. As in St. Louis, their renovated train station is an attraction in itself, with a hotel, shopping mall & restaurants for visitors and locals and thus has created real jobs for years to come. Can you imagine the views of upper floors as loft-living units, in addition to a hotel, business suites, an amtrack train stop once again, a shopping mall with discount retailers like Birch Run and a historic museum component about all of the immigrants who came to the D to build the D. Short-sightedness has always been a problem for elected officials. Our elected officials need to be tightening up the City's Enforcement Codes to empower them to be able to force Matty Maroun, the Ambassador Bridge Billionaire to renovate and reuse this historic gem. He already did the structural analysis on this grand building and it is solid and able to be renovated. Such a renovation project could be the one positive legacy that Maroun could leave behind so that his legacy is not just the sole destruction and decimation of the area land in Southwest Detroit around the DIBC. Short-sightedness and demolition of this grand historic building is not the answer.
Detroits mansions
In the end Detroit will not last. You need a armed guard to go into many sections of the city. We went after a 20year lapse and I cried. What have they done to Detroit. Answer. Nothing
Living in the D
Dave your work and attitude is perfect for our city; KEEP IT UP!!! Maybe the "wrecking-ball" can stop it's planned destruction, so the city's "SOUL" can rebound!?
What a shame!
After reading Mr krieger's blog, I have to admit he's 100% right. I'll be in the D tomorrow and from my past visits Detroit has an astounding achitechural landscape! It's a shame when a city with such past promise has let absentee landowners get away with letting such gems fall in blight and total dismay. What gives? Have the citizens of detroit forgot that it used to be a major player in the industrial sector? I was born in Detroit and I haven't lost pride when someone ask me "where are you originally from? I'm never embarassed, nor ashamed to tell them "DETROIT" with such fervor, it shocks most because anyone making a statement about being from the D automatically assume your going to be downtrodden and disenfranchised becuase of the political landscape.(Which is another story in itself). The Michigan Central train station should be saved considering it's beauty with so much promise. If the political body of Detroit were to actually sit back a take another view, they'd see what myself and others see. The possibitity of reopenning a city gem and creating a new wave of jobs and opportunties. Maybe even the possibilty of creating a local transpotation system as well as a major transpotation to other states.I mean common this particular site is even more vast than the Grand central station in New York! What the hell are they thinking? I can go on and on but again my voice will only be heard by those who choose to listen. Wake up Detroit and stand on the front line of prosperity because if your not on the front line then take a back seat and watch a city wth such promise fall into total obscrurity!
Brian in Maryland
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