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Lafayette Building (Detroit)

1923 establishments in Michigan2010 disestablishments in MichiganBuildings and structures demolished in 2010Demolished buildings and structures in DetroitFlatiron buildings
Office buildings completed in 1923Skyscraper office buildings in Detroit
LafayetteBldgDetroit
LafayetteBldgDetroit

The Lafayette Building was a high-rise office building located at 144 West Lafayette Boulevard in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was built in 1923 and occupied a triangular lot, bordered by Michigan Avenue, West Lafayette Boulevard, and Shelby Street. The building was 14 floors tall, with one basement floor, and 13 above-ground floors. The office building was designed in the neo-classical architecture style by C. Howard Crane who built many of Detroit's theaters. It is built with mainly brick, limestone, and terra cotta. Its triangular form mimicked the Flatiron Building in Manhattan.The building contained 178 feet (54 m) of frontage along Michigan Avenue, 168 feet (51 m) of frontage along Shelby Street, 135 feet (41 m) of frontage along Lafayette Boulevard, and was 85 feet (26 m) in length along its east facade which stood mid-block. After years of mismanagement, and a declining tenant base, the building was finally shuttered in 1997. Demolition of the building began in October 2009 and ended at 4:30 AM on February 24, 2010 when the last part of the 14-story tower was leveled to the ground.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Lafayette Building (Detroit) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Lafayette Building (Detroit)
West Lafayette Boulevard, Detroit

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.33143 ° E -83.04879 °
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West Lafayette Boulevard 114
48226 Detroit
Michigan, United States
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Majestic Building (Detroit)
Majestic Building (Detroit)

The Majestic Building was a high-rise building located at 1001 Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. The building was constructed in 1896 for the Mabley and Company department store chain and was the city's second skyscraper, following the completion of the Hammond Building. It contained 14 stories and stood at 68 m (223 ft) in height. This building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Daniel H. Burnham & Company, and faced with terra cotta. The final construction cost of the building was $1,000,000. This was Detroit's tallest building, from its completion in 1896 until 1909, when it was overtaken by the Ford Building. Unfortunately, C. R. Mabley died before the building's completion and new owners used it solely as an office block. It was purportedly renamed the Majestic building to conform with the letter "M" (for Mabley) carved in numerous places in its façade.The Majestic Building was hailed as a "fireproof skyscraper" and this claim was proven in 1915 when a fire broke out on the top floor and burned for two hours. The fire never spread to other floors and never endangered the building's supporting structure. Beginning in 1907, the Majestic Building housed offices and a roof-top observation deck for the United States Weather Bureau for science and meteorologists performing weather observations. This observation deck offered unobstructed views for up to 12 miles in any direction, and was open to the public for a dime admission.The Detroit News engaged "The Human Fly" Harry H. Gardiner to scale the building's exterior in 1916 as a promotional stunt. The event was scheduled for the noon lunch hour and attracted such a large crowd, that traffic and streetcars on Woodward Avenue came to a halt.The building was demolished in 1962, to make way for the First Federal Building, which was finished in 1965.

Theodore Levin United States Courthouse
Theodore Levin United States Courthouse

The Theodore Levin United States Courthouse (also known as the Detroit Federal Building) is a large high-rise courthouse and office building located at 231 West Lafayette Boulevard in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The structure occupies an entire block, girdled by Shelby Street (east), Washington Boulevard (west), West Fort Street (south), and West Lafayette Boulevard (north). The building is named after the late Theodore Levin, a lawyer and United States District Court judge. Construction began in 1932 and finished in 1934. It stands at 10 stories in height, with its top floor at 50 metres (150 feet) from the first floor entrance, with the roof being 56.1 metres, or 184 feet (56 m) in height from the top of the roof to the streets below. The building was designed in the Art Deco and art moderne styles of architecture, incorporating granite and limestone into the structure. The main façade is limestone, above a polished black stone. Inside the building, there is an open-center court above the second floor. The building contains relief sculptures of eagles and emblems above the entrance, which symbolize the building's governmental function (as a courthouse). The seventh floor contains the lavishly decorated, Romanesque style Chief Judge's Courtroom, one of the building's most notable features. At the request of Chief Judge Arthur Tuttle, the courtroom from the previous building (built in 1897) was disassembled and stored during construction, then reassembled in the new building.