Critical Detroit | engaging local architecture

Detroit Observation Decks?

Nearly a year ago, The Ledge was opened at the Willis Tower (previously known as the Sears Tower) for visitors to the Skydeck to experience the view in a whole new way. While Detroit may not have the same architectural stock as Chicago, it is still impressive. Unfortunately, observation decks are a thing of the [...]

Buildings by Bike

Attention architects, cyclists, architects who cycle, and cyclists who architect. Wheelhouse Detroit has been around for a couple years, but did you know they offer bike tours of Detroit? Wheelhouse Detroit actually offers several tours, including architecture tours that cover downtown, eastern market, riverfront, Corktown, and many, many more areas. You can cover a great [...]

Bagley Avenue Pedestrian Bridge – Grand Opening

If you’re in Southwest Detroit celebrating Cinco de Mayo, be sure to head over to the Bagley Avenue Pedestrian Bridge at 1:00 pm to enjoy the Grand Opening Celebration. Learn more at the MDOT website.

Doors Open Detroit?

I ran across a website today (actually several websites) about events that other cities with rich architectural buildings are hosting. The idea is simple. Buildings around the city open their doors and offer the public an opportunity to explore buildings that are closed to the public or usually charge an admission fee. Do you think [...]

New Hope for the Book Tower

Just over a year ago, the Book Tower was vacant and its then current owner was behind on utility payments. So far, in fact, that electrical and water utilities had been disconnected. A lot can change in a year.

Critical Detroit Wishlist

Critical Detroit has come a long way this past year especially since we switched to WordPress. We’re closing in on 13,000 visitors for the year. It’s not much, but more than we’ve ever had in the past. As the year winds down, let me share some things I’d love to get from you. Don’t worry, [...]

Detroit’s Olympic Bids

Did you know that Detroit has submitted multiple bids to host the Summer Olympics? They’ve actually submitted 7 bids in all. They bid in 1944 (which was canceled due to the war) and then again in every year from 1952 thru 1972. Many consider their bid for the 1968 Olympics their best chance at landing [...]

Vintage Advertising

I had a great time looking through old exhibit catalogs from the Detroit Architectural Club and the Thumb Tack Club of Detroit. I never put much thought into what went into publishing these books, but quickly realized that advertising was just as prevalent in the early 1900′s as it is today. Each book had a [...]

Timeline Working Now – For Everyone

Oops. Apparently an errant comma was preventing the Timeline page from displaying correctly (or even displaying at all) in Internet Explorer, which over half of our visitors are using. Everything is working now.

Early Detroit Architecture Clubs

A couple of weeks ago I was confirming some dates for the Guardian building and ran across the following text: (Excerpt from The Guardian Building: Cathedral of Finance By James W. Tottis) I’ve never run across this name or organization before so I did some digging and discovered some very interesting things.

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engaging local architecture

Detroit Observation Decks?

Buildings by Bike

Bagley Avenue Pedestrian Bridge – Grand Opening

Doors Open Detroit?

New Hope for the Book Tower

Critical Detroit Wishlist

Detroit’s Olympic Bids

Vintage Advertising

Timeline Working Now – For Everyone

Early Detroit Architecture Clubs

Buildings of Detroit

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