Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2007 » 751 Griswold Street « Previous Next »
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Jasoncw
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Username: Jasoncw

Post Number: 313
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 7:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was wondering if anyone knew any of the history behind 751 Griswold Street.

It's this tiny little building in the middle of downtown that seems to have been forgotten.

Also, I was wondering if the building has an actual name that it should be called by.

Thanks! :-)
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Detroitplanner
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Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 633
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 12:42 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Google Earth Points to the Dime Building so I assume this is the building just N of it.

This was once a two story Hardees, I think it either closed in the late 80's or early 90's. For a while, the City of Detroit was running some sort of training out of the building too.
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Jasoncw
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Username: Jasoncw

Post Number: 314
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:10 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

thanks :-)

Yeah, it's north of the Dime Building, and it's on the corner of the block. It's next to that newer parking garage, and you can see it from the Coney Islands.

When I search on google for it, I get a ton of little office stuff (some investors and lawyers and that kind of stuff), and then a lot of real estate stuff. The photographs I've seen (which are pretty recent, although I've never really payed attention to the building when I've been downtown) have some lease signs on it, and the building looks empty.

I've made this building for the computer game Sim City 4, and when you click on it, it's going to show a paragraph or two of information about the building.
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Itsjeff
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Username: Itsjeff

Post Number: 7279
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The building on the very corner is the old Olde headquarters. It became the H&R Block Brokerage hq when they bought out Olde. H&R eventually moved into the Dime Building.

A friend of mine has the listing. They're trying to market the building as retail on the first two floors with lofts above.
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Detroitplanner
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Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 638
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:24 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Based upon the additional info you provided, ItsJeff's explanation is better than my own. There is a building between the Dime and the Olde.
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Dabirch
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Username: Dabirch

Post Number: 2006
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

They're trying to market the building as retail on the first two floors with lofts above.




Ground floor retail with lofts above? Is Babbitt involved?
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Itsjeff
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Username: Itsjeff

Post Number: 7280
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:49 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You realize you'll be utterly friendless in California, right?
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Dabirch
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Username: Dabirch

Post Number: 2007
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Friends are over-rated when you live in the world of perfect breasts, tummy tucks, and lyposuction.
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Itsjeff
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Username: Itsjeff

Post Number: 7282
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 11:03 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, but how much of that can you actually afford?
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Dabirch
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Username: Dabirch

Post Number: 2009
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 11:05 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

dabirch, his sails unfurled...
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Itsjeff
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Username: Itsjeff

Post Number: 7283
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 11:09 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

:-(
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Bobzilla
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Username: Bobzilla

Post Number: 67
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 9:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think that it was originally "First State Bank" and it was designed by Albert Kahn. It has nice pillars and sculptural work on the outside, and a really fancy ceiling inside.
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Jasoncw
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Username: Jasoncw

Post Number: 315
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 11:28 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks :-)

Anymore information would be helpful. Like the year it was finished in. I could probably guess the decade, but I'd like the information that's on it to be as correct as possible.

Here's a photograph of it, taken by someone.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s nweb/224177690/
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Gsgeorge
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Username: Gsgeorge

Post Number: 60
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 11:36 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bobzilla is correct, this was originally a bank. I have a small miniature metal souvenir of it. In the 1940s-60s, banks would give miniature replicas of their building to new customers. I would take a photo of it but it's in storage at another house right now. I'll have to post one when I get time to dig it up.
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Spacemonkey
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Username: Spacemonkey

Post Number: 132
Registered: 03-2006
Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 5:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I worked at OLDE Discount Stockbrokers when it was located there. Creepy fact: Ernie Olde's (the owner) son hung himself in the elevator shaft in the OLDE building on Griswold. The janitor found him there hanging dead.
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Ramcharger
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Username: Ramcharger

Post Number: 187
Registered: 05-2006
Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 5:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wasn't that building once the home of the Detroit chapter of Scientology?
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Jasoncw
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Username: Jasoncw

Post Number: 316
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Friday, December 29, 2006 - 12:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks :-)

I found out the year, which was 1927. I thought that it would be about a decade older than that, so it's good that I found out.
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Aiw
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Username: Aiw

Post Number: 6106
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, December 29, 2006 - 7:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sculptural work was by Corrado Parducci.
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Gsgeorge
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Username: Gsgeorge

Post Number: 64
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Wednesday, January 03, 2007 - 8:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here it is, a coin bank 'souvenir replica' of 751 Griswold. This was made in the late 1940s and given away to new customers.

7277572
photo here
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Jasoncw
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Username: Jasoncw

Post Number: 318
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Wednesday, January 03, 2007 - 9:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

lol, that's really cool.

And thanks for posting it here and on Flickr. That way, if anyone else has an interest in the building they'll be able to find it.

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