Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw
Post Number: 313 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 7:21 pm: | |
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! |
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner
Post Number: 633 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 12:42 am: | |
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. |
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw
Post Number: 314 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:10 am: | |
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. |
Itsjeff
Member Username: Itsjeff
Post Number: 7279 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:19 am: | |
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. |
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner
Post Number: 638 Registered: 04-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:24 am: | |
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. |
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch
Post Number: 2006 Registered: 06-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:30 am: | |
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? |
Itsjeff
Member Username: Itsjeff
Post Number: 7280 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:49 am: | |
You realize you'll be utterly friendless in California, right? |
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch
Post Number: 2007 Registered: 06-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:57 am: | |
Friends are over-rated when you live in the world of perfect breasts, tummy tucks, and lyposuction. |
Itsjeff
Member Username: Itsjeff
Post Number: 7282 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 11:03 am: | |
Yeah, but how much of that can you actually afford? |
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch
Post Number: 2009 Registered: 06-2004
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 11:05 am: | |
dabirch, his sails unfurled... |
Itsjeff
Member Username: Itsjeff
Post Number: 7283 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 11:09 am: | |
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Bobzilla Member Username: Bobzilla
Post Number: 67 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 9:59 am: | |
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. |
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw
Post Number: 315 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 11:28 am: | |
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/ |
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 60 Registered: 08-2006
| Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 11:36 am: | |
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. |
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey
Post Number: 132 Registered: 03-2006
| Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 5:12 pm: | |
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. |
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger
Post Number: 187 Registered: 05-2006
| Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 5:45 pm: | |
Wasn't that building once the home of the Detroit chapter of Scientology? |
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw
Post Number: 316 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Friday, December 29, 2006 - 12:49 pm: | |
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. |
Aiw
Member Username: Aiw
Post Number: 6106 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Friday, December 29, 2006 - 7:35 pm: | |
Sculptural work was by Corrado Parducci. |
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge
Post Number: 64 Registered: 08-2006
| Posted on Wednesday, January 03, 2007 - 8:50 pm: | |
Here it is, a coin bank 'souvenir replica' of 751 Griswold. This was made in the late 1940s and given away to new customers. photo here |
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw
Post Number: 318 Registered: 07-2005
| Posted on Wednesday, January 03, 2007 - 9:57 pm: | |
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. |