The storied Michigan Building in downtown Detroit, built in the grandiose Renaissance Revival style of the Roaring Twenties, has now been used for a while as a facility the original architects perhaps never intended it to be used as: a parking garage.
Completed in 1926 by Chicago architects Rapp & Rapp, the theater has been through many lives: a jazz concert hall, a rock concert hall, a nightclub, an office space—and now a parking garage, according to the Huffington Post.
Today, Toyotas, Hyundais, Volkswagens and a plethora of automobiles manufactured by companies from around the world—and the occasional proud Michigander’s Ford or Chevrolet—park beneath the opulent rotunda, a place where once the theatre’s most esteemed guests sat beneath a soffit heavily decorated with cartouches and acroteria that today only give a hint that it must’ve once been gilded.
The decaying theatre has been gaining some public attention lately. It was a set in Eminem’s film 8 Mile, and recently aggregate news sites like the Huffington Post have circulated a collection of images of the garage turned theatre.
Related Stories
| Dec 3, 2014
35 cities added to Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Challenge
Chicago, Dallas, and Pittsburgh are among the U.S. cities to join the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge, pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation.
| Dec 2, 2014
First existing multifamily buildings to earn Energy Star certification unveiled
River City in Chicago is one of 17 existing multifamily properties to earn Energy Star certification, which became available to this sector on Sept. 16 via a scoring system for multifamily properties that Energy Star and Fannie Mae had been developing for three years.
| Dec 2, 2014
Nashville planning retail district made from 21 shipping containers
OneC1TY, a healthcare- and technology-focused community under construction on 18.7 acres near Nashville, Tenn., will include a mini retail district made from 21 shipping containers, the first time in this market containers have been repurposed for such use.
| Dec 2, 2014
Main attractions: New list tallies up the Top 10 museums completed this year
The list includes both additions to existing structures and entirely new buildings, from Frank Gehry's Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris to Shigeru Ban's Aspen (Colo.) Art Museum.
| Dec 2, 2014
Nonresidential construction spending rebounds in October
This month's increase in nonresidential construction spending is far more consistent with the anecdotal information floating around the industry, says ABC's Chief Economist Anirban Basu.
| Dec 2, 2014
Hoffmann Architects announces promotions
The architecture and engineering firm specializing in the rehabilitation of building exteriors announces the promotion of members of its Connecticut staff.
| Dec 2, 2014
SPARK designs urban farming housing for Singapore’s elderly population
The proposal blends affordable retirement housing with urban farming by integrating vertical aquaponic farming and rooftop soil planting into multi-unit housing for seniors.
| Dec 2, 2014
Bjarke Ingels unveils cave-like plan for public square in Battersea Power Station
A Malaysian development consortium is guiding the project, which is meant to mimic the caves of Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, East Malaysia.
| Dec 1, 2014
9 most controversial buildings ever: ArchDaily report
Inexplicable designs. Questionable functionality. Absurd budgeting. Just plain inappropriate. These are some of the characteristics that distinguish projects that ArchDaily has identified as most controversial in the annals of architecture and construction.
| Dec 1, 2014
Skanska, Foster + Partners team up on development of first commercial 3D concrete printing robot
Skanska will participate in an 18-month program with a consortium of partners to develop a robot capable of printing complex structural components with concrete.