I was impressed this week by a map of the Cass Corridor made in 1971 by the Detroit Geographic Expedition Institute, a short-lived but influential coalition of citizen geographers. (Thanks to Detroitography for collecting and reproducing a smattering of the maps that the DGEI produced, and to Model D for helping spread the word about Detroit cartography this week.) There’s a lot …
In case you missed them, there were two interesting articles about the El Moore’s neighborhood that came out last week, one in Model D and one in the New York Times. Both are thoughtful takes on a subject that our readers will know well: the significant and ongoing changes that continue to mark life in Midtown, née the Cass Corridor. …
When the redeveloped El Moore’s first residents start moving in in early June, they might notice something interesting about the historic flooring in their apartments: See that distinct line at the bottom of the photo above? That’s where a wall used to be, before we removed it during construction. It’s now become a kind of remnant, a visual reminder of …
Local history and architecture nerds, rejoice! While doing some web research on A.C. Varney, the original architect of the El Moore (1898), we discovered a remarkably detailed document about the history of our neighborhood that we’ve never seen before. We thought you might like to have a look, too. The unassumingly titled Historic and Architectural Resources of the Cass Farm …
This week’s edition of the Detroit web magazine Model D featured an pretty in-depth interview with Tom Brennan, co-founder of the Green Garage and the El Moore, about how and why to build green in Detroit. We like to think of the El Moore, which is an experiment in sustainable living, as a sister project to the …
A few weeks ago, my husband and I enjoyed a long, restorative weekend in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where we camped, hiked, and took in the magnificent sights, including Tahquamenon Falls and the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The immensity of Lake Superior, the lushness and density of the forests it nourishes, and the humbling scale of the region’s …
We were delighted to see that the El Moore project was mentioned in three news outlets over the last few weeks! At the end of August, both Crain’s and the Free Press ran pieces that included the El Moore as part of the wider story of current Detroit development projects. And just this past Tuesday, this very blog was …
One of my favorite features of the El Moore is its name, carved from the stone above its historic entrance in an ornate, exotic font that perfectly complements the building’s Spanish Medieval style. This is a small detail that makes a big difference, helping define the El Moore as more than just a building — it’s the El Moore, a distinctive place …
