flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Must See: Detroit's Beaux-Arts parking garage

Must See: Detroit's Beaux-Arts parking garage

An opulent Renaissance Revival building in downtown Detroit is being used as a parking garage.


By BD+C Staff | August 21, 2014

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.

 


Vishal Patel/Flickr

 


TNS Sofres/Flickr

Related Stories

| Mar 7, 2012

Firestone iPad app offers touch technology

Free app provides a preview of Firestone’s Roots to Rooftop Building Envelope Solution with an overview of all the products from ground and stormwater management solutions, to complete wall panel and commercial roofing system applications.

| Mar 7, 2012

LEO A DALY opens new office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Jay N. Kline, Regional Manager – Saudi Arabia, to lead new office.

| Mar 7, 2012

Turner appointed Batson-Cook CFO and treasurer

Cecil G. Hood to continue in advisory role.

| Mar 7, 2012

Thornton Tomasetti names Dowdall VP of Kansas City office

Dowdall will be responsible for supporting the Property Loss Consulting, Building Performance and Building Sustainability practices nationally.

| Mar 7, 2012

LEO A DALY selected to design Minnesota Fallen Firefighters Memorial

The bronze, figurative sculpture of a firefighter rescuing a child, which is currently on display at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, is lit by natural light through a circular void in the monolith.

| Mar 7, 2012

Houlihan Lokey adds Steffen to Industrials Group

Steffen bolsters group with experience in the building materials and rorest product sectors.

| Mar 6, 2012

Country’s first Green House home for veterans completed

Residences at VA Danville to provide community-centered housing for military veterans.

| Mar 6, 2012

EwingCole completes first design-build project for the USMA

The second phase of the project, which includes the academic buildings and the lacrosse and football fields, was completed in January 2012.

| Mar 6, 2012

Gensler and Skender complete new corporate headquarters for JMC Steel in Chicago

Construction was completed by Skender in just 12 weeks.

| Mar 6, 2012

BLT Architects promotes two to associate

Architect Nicole Dress and interior designer Jessica Moser acknowledged for excellence.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Urban Planning

Bridging the gap: How early architect involvement can revolutionize a city’s capital improvement plans

Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) typically span three to five years and outline future city projects and their costs. While they set the stage, the design and construction of these projects often extend beyond the CIP window, leading to a disconnect between the initial budget and evolving project scope. This can result in financial shortfalls, forcing cities to cut back on critical project features.



Libraries

Reasons to reinvent the Midcentury academic library

DLR Group's Interior Design Leader Gretchen Holy, Assoc. IIDA, shares the idea that a designer's responsibility to embrace a library’s history, respect its past, and create an environment that will serve student populations for the next 100 years.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021