Col. Frank J. Hecker House

The Col. Frank J. Hecker House or "Hecker House" is located on Woodward Avenue at the corner of Ferry, in Midtown Detroit.  I have driven passed this mansion many times without knowing what it was, until now.  The Hecker House was built in 1888 by Louis Kamper.  It is 21,000 square feet and in the French Chateauesque style.  Hecker used his house to host parties, where William Mckinley and Rutherford B. Hayes were said to have attended.  The exterior of the home has large turrets(towers coming out of the wall of a building such as a medieval castle) at the corners.  The interior has 49 rooms, including a large oak-paneled hall designed for parties, a mahogany oval dining room, an English oak lobby, and a white and gold music room.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.  After Hecker's death, the family kept it for another twenty years.  During this time, it operated as a boarding school for single college students.  I couldn't even imagine living in a place like this, it looks like a castle.  Eventually the Hecker House was sold to Paul Smiley, of the Smiley Brothers Music Company.  When Smiley died in 1990, the building was sold to Charfoos and Christensen, P.C.  It currently serves as their law offices and the Royal Danish Consulate in Detroit.

The Hecker House definitely sticks out from its surroundings.  One second you could be on a street with a bunch of burned down and abandoned buildings and the next second be in front of this beautiful mansion, its crazy. I love this building and the beautiful architectural details it has, I'm glad it's a part of Detroit.

Renaissance Center

The Renaissance Center, nicknamed the RenCen, is a group of seven interconnected skyscrapers in Detroit.  It serves as a hotel, offices, restaurants, clubs, and retail shops. It is owned by General Motors as its world headquarters.  The center tower, the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, is the tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and also the tallest building in Michigan.  It was built in 1981 and then restored in 2005.  The RenCen is designed in the Modern architectural style and made primarily out of glass.  The architects that restored it were Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Gensler, SmithGroup, and Ghafari Associates.

When I was a kid, I remember coming to the Renaissance Center on New Years Eve with my family and my neighbor's family(my dad managed to arrange this because he was working here at the time).  I remember hanging out in a conference room, high up in one of the towers, celebrating and waiting for the clocks to hit midnight.  I was so excited to see the ball drop on T.V. and watch the fireworks from the window.  The view was amazing.  Being so high up, made the fireworks seem so close and made it an unforgettable experience.

Cadillac Square Park & Hurlbut Memorial Gate

Cadillac Square Park is a re-established park in downtown Detroit.  It is immediately east of Campus Marcius and was created to increase the park space.  It was opened in the late summer of 2007 and the city moved the Bagley Memorial Fountain to Cadillac Square.  There have been plans for a new Cadillac Centre by architect Anthony Caradonna, to pattern it after the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao but the plans have been postponed.  Every workday from noon to 1 p.m. the French sport of Petanque and Italian sport of bocce are played.

Hurlbut Memorial Gate is a monumental structure at the entry way to Water Works Park, located at East Jefferson Avenue at Cadillac Boulevard in Detroit.  It is named after Chauncey Hurlbut, a 19th-century Detroit grocer, president of the Board of Water Commissioners, and philanthropist.  The monument was built in 1894 by Brede and Mueller and restored in 2007.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and is of Beaux-Arts style.  The Hurlbut Memorial Gate is a three tiered arch, over 50 feet high, built in limestone.  It is decorated with carved garlands, water fonts and roundels, and an American eagle with its wings spread out on top.  It originally had a statue of Chauncey in the middle of the dome and an iron gate but they were both removed.

Campus Martius Park

Campus Martius Park is a public park located in downtown Detroit, where Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue intersect.  It was first built in 1850, but then in the 1900's it was lost as the city's downtown was reconfigured due to the heavy traffic.  It was rebuilt in 2004 with a Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, two stages, an ice skating rink, sculptors, and public spaces.  This park is 1.2 acres and is open all year round.  The ice skating rink is operated by Magic Ice USA and designed to resemble the one at the Rockefeller Center in New York City, but it is actually larger than that one. I have never walked through Campus Martius or have gone ice skating at the rink there but I plan to in the future.  Campus Martius is a beautiful, well known place to go for Detroiters or anybody visiting the Detroit area.

Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is a Civil War Monument created to honor those that were killed in the war.  It was sculpted by Randolph Rogers in 1867 and is of a Classical Revival style.  The design consists of octagonal sections that rise up from the base of the monument.  The lowest sections have eagles on them with raised wings that guide your eye upward to the next section which has four males symbolizing the Navy, Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery branches of the U.S. Army.  Above the male statues are four women on pedestals that represent Victory, History, Emancipation, and Union. Victory stands at the top of the monument with a sword and a shield prepared to attack. This monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.  I love the different levels of this monument and how it builds up.  The design of it makes you look at every aspect of it not just the top of it.  This statue has great history and meaning to it.

Grand Army of the Republic Building

The Grand Army of the Republic Building(GAR) is a historic building on West Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.  It was built in 1899 by architect Julian Hess and Richard Raseman.  It was originally built for the Grand Army of the Republic club members in Detroit.  The building included thirteen shops and a bank on the ground floor, office space on the second and third floor, and a small auditorium on the fourth floor.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.  In 2007, the GAR Building was sold to the Ilitch family, who had planned to renovate it.  The renovations never happened.  In 2011, it was sold to Mindfield USA, a Detroit-based media company. The plan was to use the building as their headquarters.  The building is still currently undergoing renovations. The plan is for the top two floors to be used as the headquarters, the ground floor to be used for retail, a restaurant, and a Civil War Memorial.

The GAR Building is triangular in shape because of it's lot size and it is of Romanesque Revival style. This building makes me think of a castle because the sides of the triangle are connected by tower-like structures.  I love all the red details on it and the arch windows and doors it has.  The GAR Building is really old and charming and it is a great piece of history in Detroit.

Detroit Artists Market

The Detroit Artists Market, or DAM, was founded in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression.  It is a nonprofit organization that aids local artists by giving them gallery space to exhibit their artwork. "DAM has a history of creating a lively culture and characterized by experimentation and artistic creativity."  It was started by a group of local art patrons led by Mrs. H. Lee Simpson.  The DAM is located in the cultural Midtown neighborhood on Woodward Avenue, near the Detroit Institute of Art and Wayne State University.  It is the oldest continuously running nonprofit gallery in the Midwest. Originally, it was named Detroit's Young Artist Market and just served artists under the age of 30, but in 1936, the gallery and organization changed it's name and decided to serve all artists no matter the age.  Not only does DAM help artists out, but it also educates people about art by letting them view artwork by the finest local artists.

I think it is great there are many organizations out there to help people showcase their talent and passion.  Putting people's talent out there helps to make connections and possibly get a jump start on a career.  I just recently discovered this organization, so I haven't had a chance to check out this gallery yet, but I hope to in the future.

Michigan Central Station

Michigan Central Station, also known as Michigan Central Depot or MCS, was built in 1913 for the Michigan Central Railroad.  When it was built it was the tallest rail station in the world.  It is located in Corktown, Detroit near the Ambassador Bridge, southwest of downtown Detroit.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.  The building is of the Beaux-Arts Classical style of architecture, designed by the Warren and Wetmore and Reed and Stem firms.  The MCS is a 500,000 square foot building.  The main waiting room on the main floor was designed to model an ancient Roman bathhouse with vaulted ceilings and walls of marble.  The MCS was designed to include a hotel, offices for the rail company, a large hall that contained the ticket office, and arcade shops. Currently, Michigan Central Station is in ruins.

Even though this building is in ruins it is still really beautiful.  It also has a lot of history in it. Michigan Central Station symbolizes the rise and fall in Detroit.  For 75 years, the depot shipped people off to war, brought them home, and took them on vacation.  "It was Detroit's Ellis Island, where many generations of Detroiters first stepped foot into the city for factory jobs."  It was filled with the sounds of hellos and goodbyes. Now, after its been out of use for nearly 25 years, it has been a place for vandals and the homeless.  The only sounds heard are the spraying of paint cans, dripping of water through the holes in the ceiling, and the whistling of wind through the broken windows.  There has been some talk of renovation but nothing has been finalized.