After so many years of disparagement, Detroiters have become bitterly accustomed to being forced to endure a stream of misinformed mischaracterizations of their city by those who seem focused solely on frequently reported crime stats and the ever-present ruin porn as the sole definition of one of America’s most important cities. One of the things that […]
Once upon a time there was Chinatown Read More »
As Detroit once again rises and experiences growth, rebirth, and reconstruction in many areas of our City, including the near-completion of the El Moore , we are experiencing how Detroit is attempting to balance the maze of freeways that cut through our neighborhoods and the goal of many neighborhoods to become more walkable and pedestrian-friendly.
The Voice of Detroit Neighborhoods: Midtown as a Planned Mixed-Use Neighborhood Read More »
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
A close-up look at Cass Farms Read More »
It has been well publicized. Decades of severe loss of population, an under-performing public school system, an economy heavily dependent on just one industry, abandoned homes, crime out of control (including the infamous title of the nation’s murder capital). Yes, I’m referring to Washington D.C. a few decades ago. OK, well, maybe it has not been
Where Did Everyone Go? Read More »
Well, apparently, a bit more than we thought. In an earlier post, we introduced readers to Charles W. Moore, the person who, for $24,000, funded the construction of the El Moore apartments in 1898. After a bit more research, we discovered that there were, in fact, two Charles W. Moores who lived in Detroit during that
At a certain point in any construction project you begin to notice things coming together, and you view the project in a different way. You are able to identify the building as something greater than the sum of its parts. This week I believe we reached that tipping point. The addition of cobblestones and permeable
Construction Update – Week of December 1, 2014 Read More »
The El Moore, a reconstruction project focusing on historic rehabilitation and modern urban sustainability, is based on the history of Detroit as a city of neighborhoods, and how that history shapes how Detroit is reinventing itself yet again. This is part of the series of posts on the “Voices of Detroit” and how those voices
Voices of Detroit: Early American Detroit Read More »
This episode of our podcast series Stories of the El Moore shares the stories about the new Greenhouse building at the El Moore project in Detroit. It is part of a larger project to explore the nature of sustainable urban living centered on an 1898 abandoned apartment building in a small neighborhood in Detroit. It describes
The Greenhouse – Using Our Past to Build Our Future (podcast) Read More »
