Dan Austin’s back with us to explore the vanished history of the city’s skyline, mourning the mid-century losses of landmarks like Old City Hall, the old Federal Building, and the Lafayette Building.  Austin explains that post-war economic decline and the pressure to compete with modern suburban office parks drove city leaders to trade historic craftsmanship for uninspiring modern boxes.

STRAIGHT DOPE: 
Since Marc is off sneaking a well-deserved break, we are treating our loyal listeners to a very special bonus episode.

We are sitting down with Dan Austin, the grand poobah of Detroit architecture history and the mastermind behind HistoricDetroit.org. For two decades, Dan has been keeping the story of our city’s skyline alive, and today, we’re digging into the great, long-lost landmarks of Detroit—the buildings that are gone, but we damn well wish were still standing.

Before letting the expert talk, ML had to lay out my own Mount Rushmore of demolished Detroit classics. These weren’t even knocked down by Bobby Ferguson, but if Kwame Kilpatrick had been mayor in the mid-century, Bobby probably would have taken the sledgehammer to these himself:

• Old City Hall (Demolished 1961): The absolute number one on the list. Sitting right where One Kennedy Square is today, it was a gorgeous Beaux-Arts twin to the old Wayne County Courthouse down Cadillac Square. It was replaced by a sunken park that became a haven for pigeons, lunch-goers, and folks the Free Press would call “unhoused.”
• The Federal Building / Old Post Office (Demolished 1930s): Located at Shelby and Fort, this 1891 masterpiece had a beautiful, dark Gotham/Transylvania vibe, complete with water-barfing dragon downspout gargoyles. It was torn down during the WPA era to provide jobs and make way for the Levin U.S. Courthouse.
• Tiger Stadium & Olympia Stadium: Two cathedrals of Detroit sports history that were ultimately replaced by… a whole lot of nothing special.

The Architecture Post-Mortem with Dan Austin

Dan brought his own historical heavy artillery to the table, breaking down why Detroit spent decades trading world-class craftsmanship for mid-century modern “ugly ass” boxes.

• The “Mad Men” Era Decline: Dan explains that in the 1950s and 60s, Detroit was competing with the glittering new office parks of Southfield. City leaders didn’t want Detroit to look like a dead city living in the past, so they traded gorgeous chandeliers for fluorescent lighting, tearing down history just to look “new.”
• The Majestic Building (Demolished 1962): Designed by the legendary Daniel Burnham (the genius behind Chicago’s World’s Fair), this northwest corner of Michigan and Woodward landmark featured literally a football field’s worth of interior marble. Mayor Louis Miriani allowed it to be leveled for an office tower and an underground parking garage.
• The Lafayette Building (Demolished 2009): A unique, V-shaped building designed by C. Howard Crane (the same guy who did the Fox Theatre and Olympia). Dan personally fought to get it on the National Register of Historic Places, but the city leveled it anyway out of panic over a vacant building sitting across from the newly renovated Book Cadillac.
• The American Motors Headquarters (Demolished 2022-2023): Down in District 7 on Plymouth Road, this towering Art Deco plant was recently clear-cut. While the new manufacturing jobs are great, Dan notes they easily could have preserved the historic facade as a shield instead of putting a giant, windowless box right against the neighborhood sidewalk.

What About the Ren Center?

We couldn’t talk Detroit architecture without addressing the concrete elephant on the riverfront: The Renaissance Center.

Dan and ML pull no punches on John Portman’s 1977 fortress. While it’s the most iconic fixture on our skyline, it was originally built like a concrete Death Star that sucked the economic life out of the rest of downtown Detroit (killing off buildings like the Lafayette). It’s a confounding, un-navigable mess where form definitely did not follow function.Now that GM is skating out to Warren and Dan Gilbert’s new Hudson’s tower, what do we do with it? You can’t convert it to apartments (the windows don’t open, and the plumbing is an absolute nightmare). Dan’s expert verdict? If you aren’t going to save all four outer towers, take the whole damn thing down and completely open up the Detroit riverfront.

Geeking Out on Detroit Rock History & Trivia

• The Yorba Hotel: The infamous southwest Detroit hotel immortalized by the White Stripes. It was recently shut down by the city due to severe code violations, but its prime location in Hubbard Farms means there’s a strong chance it will be salvaged for proper, high-quality low-income housing.
• The Grande Ballroom: The holy grail of rock history and the birthplace of the MC5 and The Stooges. The church that owns it put a tarp over the collapsed roof, but with a gutted interior and a $5 million asking price just to buy the property, saving it would require a miracle—and about $40 million.
• The Albert Kahn “Fraud”: Did Albert Kahn actually design every single detail of his iconic buildings? Short answer: No. He was a visionary who revolutionized industrial architecture, but he had a massive team—including associate architect Ernest Wilby and artist Géza Maródi (who did the heavy lifting inside the Fisher Building)—to crunch the numbers and draw the individual floorplates.

Our Soul-Sustaining Sponsors

This show doesn’t happen without the people who keep us coming back week after week. Please support the businesses that support the Soul of Detroit:

• Luke Nowacki of Pinnacle Wealth Strategies: Whether you want to talk retirement goals, secure a college savings plan, or set up a Roth IRA for your kids, Luke provides a conversational style that leaves you completely satisfied. Call or text Luke at 248-663-4748. Get yourself a crumb from the pie, and he’ll make it all about you, sweetheart.
• Detroit City FC: Catch Le Rouge playing at Keyworth Stadium! On June 10th at 7:30 PM, the men’s team faces El Paso Locomotive FC—featuring Danny Rojas of Ted Lasso fame making his competitive return to the pitch. Head over to detcityfc.coms