New Center, Detroit

Grand Boulevard looking west through New Center. The National Historic Landmarks Cadillac Place (left) and the Fisher Building in the background, with the St. Regis Hotel on the right.

The New Center is a significant commercial and residential historic district located in Detroit, Michigan, adjacent to Midtown, one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center, and approximately three miles (5 km) north of Downtown. The area is centered just west of the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard, and is approximately bounded by Virginia Park Historic District on the north, the Ford Freeway on the south, John R. on the east and the Lodge Freeway on the west.^[1]

The heart of the New Center was developed in the 1920s as a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories. Some historians believe that the New Center may be the original edge city—a sub-center remote from, but related to, a main urban core.^[1] The descriptor "New Center" derived its name from the New Center News, an automotive-focused free newspaper begun in 1933 that continues to operate under the name Detroit Auto Scene. From 1923 to 1996, General Motors maintained its world headquarters in the New Center (in what is now Cadillac Place) before relocating downtown to the Renaissance Center; before becoming a division of GM, Fisher Body was headquartered in the Fisher Building. Both Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building are National Historic Landmarks. In addition to the government and commercial offices along Woodward and Grand Boulevard, the New Center contains the Fisher Theatre, the boutique Detroit St. Regis Hotel, Henry Ford Hospital, restaurants, and residential areas.

History

Burroughs Adding Machine Company, later merged into Unisys Corporation, now Henry Ford Health Headquarters.

Streetscape on Cass, looking north, in the New Amsterdam Historic District.

In 1891, Detroit mayor Hazen Pingree broke ground on the construction of Grand Boulevard, a ring road that wrapped around the city of Detroit.^[2] The Boulevard ran for 12 miles (19 km), curving from the Detroit River on the west to the river on the east and crossing Woodward Avenue at a point approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) from downtown.^[2] The Boulevard was originally thought to represent the absolute limit of the city's expansion, although tremendous growth at the beginning of the 20th century quickly pushed the city limits far beyond Grand Boulevard.^[2]

In the 1890s, major railroad infrastructure known as the Milwaukee Junction was built just south of Grand Boulevard to facilitate industrial expansion in the city of Detroit.^[3] To take advantage of the rail line, industrial plants were built in this area on both sides of Woodward Avenue, with the automotive industry prominently involved. Part of this area east of Woodward is now the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District, while the area west of Woodward and south of the railroad tracks is the New Amsterdam Historic District. Most notably, in 1904, Burroughs Adding Machine Company built a large factory on Third, and the following year Cadillac built an assembly plant just to the east of Burroughs.^[4]

In 1915, Henry Ford bought the financially struggling Detroit General Hospital and its lands on Grand Boulevard and Hamilton (just west of Woodward) and reopened it as Henry Ford Hospital with 48 beds.^[5] Soon after, Ford broke ground on a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m²) facility at the same location; the larger hospital opened in 1921.^[5]

Architecture

The Fisher Building, which has the headquarters of Detroit Public Schools

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, the automobile industry in Detroit grew rapidly. The economic surge made land in downtown Detroit difficult to obtain.^[1] The lack of suitable parcels frustrated William C. Durant in his search for the optimum location for his planned General Motors headquarters. Durant looked to the north, and settled on a location just west of Woodward Avenue on Grand Boulevard.^[1] A the time, the area was a residential district of private homes and small apartment buildings.^[6]

Woodward Avenue looking north past Grand Boulevard.

Durant hired Albert Kahn to design his building, and ground was broken in 1919. The building was originally to be called the "Durant Building," but Durant left the company before the building was completed, so when it opened in 1922, the building was called the "General Motors Building."^[6] As General Motors continued to grow, the company required more space. In the later 1920s, they built a second building, the General Motors Research Laboratory (also known as the Argonaut Building), also designed by Kahn, directly south of their headquarters. The building was built in two phases, and was completed in 1930.^[7]

Around the same time, the Fisher Brothers of Fisher Body followed General Motors to the area. They broke ground on their eponymous Fisher Building in 1927, located across Grand Boulevard from the General Motors Building.^[1] The Fisher Brothers also hired Kahn, and spared no expense to construct their headquarters building. The followed this up with the construction of New Center Building (now the Albert Kahn Building), completed in 1932.^[8] The Great Depression, however, forced the Fishers to break off their plans to construct a complex of buildings in the New Center, including a grandiose three-towered version of the Fisher building. ^[8] In 1940 Saks Fifth Avenue opened their fourth full-line department store in this building. The store closed in 1978 and relocated to Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn.

New Center townhomes on Pallister.

Henry Ford Hospital has continued to expand. The hospital has built numerous additions to their campus since its inception by Henry Ford, from the Clara Ford Nursing Home in 1925 to their high-rise clinic in 1955 to hospital apartments in 1976.^[5] In 1992, Henry Ford purchased the old Burroughs headquarters to the south and renamed it One Ford Place.^[5] The building is now the Henry Ford Hospital corporate headquarters.

In 1967, the Hotel St. Regis was built on the north side of Grand Boulevard near General Motors' headquarters. In 1988, the hotel was doubled in size.^[9] In 1980, General Motors built another addition to the heart of the New Center, New Center One, located across Grand Boulevard from their headquarters. The new eight-story building housed retail stores, offices, and some divisions of General Motors.^[10]

In 1977, General Motors began refurbishing some of the residential neighborhoods north of Grand Boulevard. The result was the "New Center Commons," a collection of refurbished single-family homes on the north side of the New Center.^[11] With the revitalization of Virginia Park, the New Center has two distinct historic residential neighborhhods within its boundaries. General Motors also facilitated the rehabilitation of some multi-family dwellings. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, new townhomes and condominiums were constructed in what had been empty areas of the New Center, including a section along Woodward just north of Grand Boulevard.^[11] Additional loft renovation (as well as the TechTown research incubator) took place at the same time within the New Amsterdam Historic District.

The New Center served as a kind of corporate campus for GM for 70 years. However, the company left the area in the 1990s, moving their headquarters to the Renaissance Center downtown.^[1] The old General Motors Building—now called Cadillac Place—is occupied by the State of Michigan.

Structures and areas near New Center

• Argonaut Building (formerly General Motors Research Laboratory)
• Albert Kahn Building (formerly the New Center Building)
• Boston-Edison Historic District
• Cadillac Place (formerly the General Motors Building)
• Detroit (Amtrak station)
• Detroit St. Regis Hotel
• Fisher Building
• Henry Ford Hospital
• Metropolitan United Methodist Church
• New Center Building
• New Center One
• New Center Park
• New Amsterdam Historic District
• Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District (western portion)
• Virginia Park Historic District

Culture and contemporary life

Hotel St. Regis Detroit

The New Center has a retail section, primarily along the Woodward and Grand Boulevard corridors. The Cadillac Place state office complex and Fisher Building are National Historic Landmarks in the area.^[12][13] An area south of Grand Boulevard along Woodward contains some retail stores in the district which have existed at their present location since the 1920s.^[13][14] The boutique Hotel St. Regis Detroit is adjacent to the Fisher Theatre.

In 2010, Henry Ford Health System in the New Center announced a $500 M expansion in Detroit with plans for a biomedical research center.^[15]

The Consulate-General of Lebanon in Detroit is located in Suite 560 in the New Center One Building.^[16][17]

New Center summer events near Cadillac Place state office complex.

The New Center hosts the annual summer-long series of events in New Center Park and includes a 1,000 person outdoor concert venue with a center stage capable of hosting national acts.^[18]

Homes on Pallister, a pedestrian street in this block.

Apartment buildings on Seward on the north side of the New Center.

Grand Boulevard, along its entire extent, became an attractive residential address at the beginning of the 20th century.^[2] This was also true in the area that was to become the New Center. At the turn of the century, a number of private homes were built along Grand Boulevard and in the neighborhoods to the north, notably including what is now the Virginia Park Historic District on the northern edge of the New Center.^[11] Interspersed in the area were small apartment buildings. Larger apartment buildings were constructed in the area in the 1920s to serve the population of workers and visitors to the area after larger office buildings had been built on Grand Boulevard.

According to the New Center Profile market study paid for the New Center Council, Inc:

• Population: 3,185
• Housing Units: 2,346
• Employees: 20,962
• Size: 60 blocks/500 acres

Education

New Center is within the Detroit Public Schools district. DPS has its headquarters in the Fisher Building in New Center.^[19] The district paid the owner of the Fisher Building $24.1 million in 2002 so the district could occupy five floors in the building.^[20] Officials claimed leasing the Fisher Building as its headquarters was more economical than a remodel of the Maccabees Building in Midtown where the district previously had its headquarters.^[21][22]

Three schools, Golightly K-8, Loving Elementary, and Thirkell Elementary, serve sections of New Center for elementary school.^[23] Golightly K-8 and Hutchins Middle School serve sections of New Center for middle school.^[24] All residents are zoned to Northwestern High School.^[25]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Randall Fogelman, Detroit's New Center, Arcadia Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0738532711.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Richard Bak, Detroit Across Three Centuries, Sleeping Bear Press, 2001, ISBN 1585360015, p. 60.]
3. ^ Eric J. Hill, John Gallagher, and the American Institute of Architects Detroit Chapter, AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2002, ISBN 0814331203. pp. 168-169.
4. ^ Fogelman, pp. 57-66.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Fogelman, pp. 9-20
6. ^ ^{a b} Fogelman, pp. 22-23.
7. ^ Fogelman, p.32.
8. ^ ^{a b} Fogelman, pp. 37-48.
9. ^ Fogelman, p. 84-85.
10. ^ Fogelman, p. 35.
11. ^ ^{a b c} Fogelman, pp. 87-100
12. ^ "Workers begin recount of Detroit mayoral race." The Detroit News. December 9, 2005. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. "The day got off to a slow start in 1 Cadillac Place, the former GM headquarters on West Grand Boulevard,"
13. ^ ^{a b} Fogelman, pp. 67-71
14. ^ New Center. Retrieved on July 8, 2009.
15. ^ Greene, Jay (April 5, 2010).Henry Ford Health System plans $500 million expansion. Crains Detroit Business. Retrieved on June 12, 2010.
16. ^ Home page. Consulate-General of Lebanon in Detroit. Retrieved on February 1, 2009.
17. ^ "Contact Us." Consulate-General of Lebanon in Detroit. January 10, 2006. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.
18. ^ New Center Park
19. ^ "School Location Map." Detroit Public Schools. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.
20. ^ Oosting, Jonathan. "Audit: Detroit Public Schools overpaid millions for real estate after middle-man markups." MLive.com. September 24, 2009. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.
21. ^ Duggan, Daniel. "Freman Hendrix asked about Detroit Public Schools’ $13 million lease in 2001." Crain's Detroit Business. November 4, 2009. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.
22. ^ Duggan, Daniel. "Construction profits for Detroit Public Schools’ projects excessive, Bobb says." Crain's Detroit Business. October 28, 2009. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.
23. ^ "Elementary School Boundary Map." Detroit Public Schools. Retrieved on November 7, 2009, 2009.
24. ^ "Middle School Boundary Map." Detroit Public Schools. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.
25. ^ "High School Boundary Map." Detroit Public Schools. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.

External links

Metro Detroit portal

• New Center Council

Coordinates: 42°22′09″N 83°04′37″W / 42.3693°N 83.077°W / 42.3693; -83.077