The city of Detroit has gained much national exposure of late as case study for the potential revival of declining Rust Belt cities. And from the establishing of an Emergency Financial Manager to Dan Gilbert’s master plan to create a shiny new downtown, the city has been showing early signs of a commercial and financial comeback. But flying low under this progress is Detroit’s exciting musical resurgence. (more…)
As a child, I was obsessed with the book, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It invoked a childhood trifecta for me-runaways, mysteries to be solved, and library science (yes, I was a dorky misanthrope)-but the real kicker was that the protagonist, Claudia Kincaid, decides to run away in comfort, and chooses for refuge the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Life in a museum. Truly, nothing sounded better to this dorky misanthrope.
Stepping for the first time into the Benjamin Siegel House, built in the historic Boston-Edison district of Detroit in 1914 by the founder of Siegel’s department store, it turns out that my secret love of life at the museum has never left me. The mansion’s owner, kind enough to indulge me in a brief photographic spree, is a kindred spirit in the appreciation of the historic significance and unequaled beauty of old-fashioned things.
The Siegel House has been through several transitions, having passed from the original owners in 1957 into a foundation for religious brotherhood, perhaps a reflection of the Siegel’s efforts as a Jewish family to find acceptance with and connection to their Boston-Edison fellows. Eventually the foundation was sold back into private ownership, and the current owner is a remarkable example of a special kind of Detroiter, one who can look through decades of attrition and still see beauty, potential, and most importantly, a history worthy of preservation. That he is additionally devoted to sharing his beautiful home with like-minded people is the icing on the cake.
For an inveterate estate sale-hopper and amateur antique trader, the Siegel House is a wonderland of details; everywhere you turn in this spacious residence, you find another remarkable work of art, beautiful piece of furniture, or item far too beautiful and consciously-placed to be considered a proper “knick-knack.” Truly, it is like nothing so much as a museum, from the vaulted butler’s pantry with original silver safe and an array of china collections, to the dining room, featuring a table that once belonged to the Archbishop of Detroit and served visiting Popes, to the velvet-lined elevator, featuring a ceiling mural in a cherub motif (echoing another mural on the dining room ceiling, a product of the previous owner).
But in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. I hope you take as much joy as I do in knowing that right here in Detroit, history is alive, well, and beautiful.
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More than a dozen tiny doors are scattered across the storefronts and public buildings of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Created by lifelong resident and illustrator Jonathan b. Wright, the doors are frequently visited by children, adults, and surprised shoppers. Wright first built the fairy-sized doors for his daughters as he renovated his home. Beginning in 2005, he expanded the fairy doors to the family’s favorite local businesses. Today, these “urban fairies” have carved out space in much of Ann Arbor’s downtown. There’s a fairy door in the Google offices, another at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, and an intricate shelf of books in the children’s section of the Ann Arbor District Library. As Wright explains on his website, he continues to discover new doors and repair damages to existing ones.
In April 2011, a friend and I spent an afternoon searching for the doors around Main Street. I started at the Ark, a live music venue on Main Street. The fairies even have a ticket window.
Another was squeezed between two storefronts.
The fairy door at Peaceable Kingdom is part of a miniature store. It closes at the same time as the human-sized store.
Down on Ashley Street, Red Shoes has its own door as well. Many children leave gifts for the fairies on the stoop.
The fairy door at Lexi’s Toy Box matches the store’s entrance.
The first fairy door appeared at Sweetwater’s Café just off of Main Street.
While some stores have closed and their fairy doors have disappeared, new ones are still appearing around Ann Arbor. They fascinate children and allow adults to take a moment to believe in magic.
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The United Artists Theatre was designed by Charles Howard Crane and opened in 1928. Located less than a block from Grand Circus Park, the theater was financed by United Artists, the film company founded by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. Similar to the nearby Fox Theatre, an office block was incorporated into the design. The interior of the theater was sumptuously decorated in Spanish Gothic style, with intricate ornamentation, a large chandelier, a grand staircase and a two-story circular lobby. It was rumored to be acoustically perfect. Less than half the size of the Fox Theater, the United Artists Theater generally showed first-run films with reserve seating. Films that premiered there include Gone with the Wind, the Sound of Music and Cleopatra. In the late 1960s, it shifted to adult fare and closed permanently in 1974. In 1975, the fixtures were sold at auction and the space was only thereafter sporadically used as a recording hall for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The office tower was in use until final closure in 1984.
As of 1995, the United Artists Theater was owned by the Grand Circus Development Corporation. In a memorandum between the City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and the Detroit Tigers, it was stated that the theater was located in an area referred to as “the Stadium Project.” [1] This land was intended for future development of a stadium for the Tigers, and according to Grand Circus, the memorandum also contained a clause in which “the Detroit Tigers, ‘a Mike Ilitch Company’, would be entitled to receive all the concession revenues derived from events and activities conducted at the stadium complex.” [1] Grand Circus did not want the property to land in the hands of persons affiliated with the Tigers, and on April 5, 1995 entered into an option (essentially, a contractual agreement) with the real estate company (RFP Associates) who was handling the sale. The agreement prohibited the property from being transferred “for the benefit of” various listed individuals (including Mike Ilitch), their families or business interests for a period of one year after the closing of a sale on the property.
On April 1, 1996 RFP Associates assigned all its rights and interest to a corporation called Beldon, a company affiliated with casino and cable mogul, Charles Barden. In December 1996, Beldon exercised its option with RFP (essentially, purchasing the property) and the title was transferred to Beldon from Grand Circus. Grand Circus alleged that in May 1996, Beldon assigned its interests to the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), a private non-profit organization that works in partnership with Detroit city government and provides staffing services for numerous government agencies including the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Neighborhood Development Corporation (NDC) and the Local Development Finance Authority (LDFA).
In March 1997, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation notified Beldon that it was exercising its option in favor of Olympia Entertainment, a Mike Ilitch company. The property was thus transferred from Beldon to Ilitch’s company, and Grand Circus filed suit. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the initial clause restricting the sale to unrelated interests “violated the rule against restraints on alienation.” [1] Essentially, that such a restraint is against the public policy of allowing landowners to freely dispose of their property. A seller can “enforce restrictions on alienation only if the seller retains a significant interest in the property,” [1] which was not the case since Grand Circus conveyed the property to Beldon by warranty deed.
Forgotten Detroit, a website on Detroit’s historical architecture claims that “the city of Detroit forced Barden to sell the United Artists Theater to the Ilitches and court battles ensued as Barden tried to null the sale.” [2] The latter half of the statement appears to be false, based on the Court of Appeals document. Beldon, Barden’s company, only asserted that it was “entitled to judgment,” [1] a pre-emptive statement to be cleared of wrongdoing and assert its right to the proceeds. The first half of the statement is more debatable. The Court of Appeals states that “at best, the pleadings [of Grand Circus] hint that Beldon acted with some sense that the property would ultimately end up in the hands of an Ilitch entity.” [1] Professor Patrick A. Randolph Jr., of the University of Missouri Kansas City Law School believes that in this case, “No one was pretending that the involved parties didn’t have knowledge of the restraining language. The question was weather it applied to all”¦[Grand] Circus couldn’t “collapse” the transaction to show that the Tigers folks were the real parties in interest in the transfers in the chain”¦We are assuming, that everyone is aware of the restraint and is acting in the face of it.” [3]
Sarcastically, the professor also includes that he also would not “have enforced the forfeiture here for other, technical reasons. But if we get down to the fundamental policy considerations, it appears that the Michigan Court of Appeals consists of baseball fans.” [3] In sum, however the reading, a complex set of transactions and contracts eventually gave Mike Ilitch control over United Artists Theater, with the ultimate determining party being the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, a non-profit organization with public partnerships with Detroit City government. The building remains vacant.
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Interested in Detroit? See more Untapped coverage from Detroit.
[1] Bandstra, Richard A., William C. Whitbeck and Donald S. Owens. “Grand Circus Development Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Beldon Construction Company and Olympia Development of Michigan, Defendants-Appellees.” State of Michigan Court of Appeals. 7 Dec 2001. Web. 11. Dec 2009.
[2] Kohrman, David. “United Artists History.” Forgotten Detroit. Web. 11 Dec 2009.
[3] Randolph Jr., Patrick A. “Daily Development for Monday December 17, 2001, Restraints on Alienation; Options.” DIRT (A service of the American Bar Association Section on Real Property, Probate & Trust Law and the University of Missouri, Kansas City, School of Law). 17 Dec 2001. Web. 11 Dec 2009.
The history of Detroit is a well-told story, whether taught in planning classrooms as a caveat against master planning, in economic textbooks as a quintessential industrial transition, or more recently made vivid through photographs on the internet by the popular fascination with absence and decline. But less investigated is the perpetuation of decline. In Verb Crisis, Jordi Bernadó raises the question, “What if Detroit is neither going up [n]or down, but simply elsewhere?” [1] I postulate that we must look beyond the physical manifestations of history. Buildings and photographs convey effect, but mask the complexities of cause. In a paper for Columbia University GSAPP, I looked specifically at government complicity in the private ownership of Detroit’s historical architecture.
Historically, the Detroit municipal government has supported the privatization of city services,[2] but not of its infrastructure-at least officially. Even proponents of privatization in Detroit admit the documented abuses that have occurred in the past, including public officials who have advantageously and “aggressively used privatization, including of nearly all ”˜public works,’ to rescue themselves from insolvency.” [3] But Michigan Central Station, arguably one of the most prominent symbols of urban neglect in Detroit, is owned by one man: Manuel Moroun. Furthermore, much of the city’s historical architecture, including early 20th century theaters and hotels, are owned or controlled by one family: The Ilitches, of the Little Caesar corporation.
Photographer Ryan Southen witnessed the rapid interior decay of Michigan Central Station over the last few years, as the building awaits its fate. Moroun is embattled in a legal struggle over a bridge to Canada(bridge to nowhere?) and no official progress has been made apart from sporadic public fear about the station’s potential demolition. Ironically, much of the decay is due to the public fascination with the place. Ryan tells Untapped:
The station is absolutely massive and hulking and almost intimidating when you are trying to get in for the first time. The first time, I was on my toes, not knowing what to expect, then I made my way up into the grand spaces and my jaw literally dropped. It’s incredible. It was designed by the same architects who did Grand Central Station in New York, so you can imagine that grandeur just based on that. The first time I went was in 2005 before it blew up as a hot spot for people to visit. There was some graffiti and vandalism but nothing too extreme. The last time i went in was in 2009 and I was amazed with how much damage had been done in four years. I’m sure it is in even worse shape as I write this. The mayor is starting to put some pressure on the billionaire who owns the station so I’m hoping something will happen with it soon, but I fear that it will be demolition and not restoration.
Follow UntappedCities on Twitter and Facebook. Get in touch with the author at @UntappedMich and the photographer @RyanSouthen
[1] Bernadó, Jordi. “Detroit, Defunct City?” Verb Crisis. New York: Actar, 6. (2008): 65.
[2] Segal, Geoffrey. “Detroit Can’t Afford to Stall Privatization.” The Reason Foundation. 20 April 2006. Web. 8 Dec 2009. < http://reason.org/news/show/122795.html>
[3] Ibid.
Welcome back to “Tap This,” where our editors report on their top picks of the week. Untapped founder, Michelle Young, reports on
What I’m Eating: Checked out the new Hamptons-style restaurant, Tremont, in New York’s Greenwich Village on Bank Street, as recommended on Urban Daddy. We recommend the steak rib with scrumptious herbs on top, the halibut special and the squid appetizer. Nice drink list too.
Most Untapped thing I did this week: Went urban exploring in Detroit with photographer Ryan Southen and played an abandoned piano inside the factory where Henry Ford got his start.
Most Untapped thing I’ll be doing next week: Going to check out Brazenhead Books, a speakeasy-like bookstore on the Upper East Side, by appointment only.
What I’m Wearing: Shrunken navy gold-button boy blazer. Don’t spend $200 on it at J.Crew. It’s almost always available in the boys section at suburban thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army. It’s authentic because prep school boys grow out of their blazers and it’s cheap: less than $5.
J. Crew version
What I’m Using: I finally got an iPad and have been using the app Sonar (made for iPhone) to discover crazy, hidden connections with the people in my proximity. Absolutely floored me.
What I’m Reading: Urbanist David Grahame Shane’s new book, Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective
