Put your hands up for Detroit! The city's opulent ruins – in pictures
Detroit’s early 20th-century buildings were astonishingly grand – now they’re being destroyed. Philip Jarmain captured their fading glamour
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Woodward Presbyterian, 2012
Architect: Sidney Rose Badgley. Built: 1908. Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church is an imposing structure, designed according to the Akron plan of a central rotunda surrounded by Sunday school classrooms. The Akron plan was developed in the late 19th century and popular in that era. The Kickstarter campaign to fund publication of the book American Beauty: The Opulent Pre-Depression Architecture of New York by Philip Jarmain ends on 9 July -
Whitney, 2013
Architects: Graham, Burnham & Co. Built: 1915. The lobby of the David Whitney office building is one of the most unique spaces in Detroit -
Mackenzie High School, 2011
Architect: Wirt C Rowland, SmithGroup. Built: 1927 Demolished: 2012. From its opening in 1928 to its demolition, many thousands of students passed through this art deco building. With a capacity of almost 5,000 students, it was one of the largest public schools in Michigan -
Belle Isle Aquarium, 2011
Architect: Albert Kahn. Built: 1904. This aquarium in Belle Isle Park opened in 1904. When it closed its doors 100 years later, it was considered to be the oldest operating public aquarium in North America. It has since reopened and is run by a local non-profit group -
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Vanity Ballroom, 2011
Architect: Charles N Agree. Built: 1929. Although it’s reminiscent of an ancient tomb from an Indiana Jones film, the Vanity Ballroom was once an oasis for big bands and ballroom dancers -
Fisher Body Plant, 2012
Architect: Albert Kahn. Built: 1919. In its heyday, Detroit was home to more than 100 auto-related factories. Fisher Body built this white steel reinforced concrete building to make auto bodies for General Motors, Hudson, Studebaker, Ford and others. This was its 21st plant. They would go on to build 40 similar plants in and around Detroit. This six-storey plant would become one of its best known. They all passed over to General Motors when GM bought Fisher Body in 1926 -
Eastown Theatre, 2012
Architect: VJ Waiver. Built: 1930. In Detroit’s heyday, the Eastown Theatre was one of the most elaborate movie palaces in the city. The cinema was part of a yellow-brick complex that included a ballroom, retail stores and apartments – a combination that was unheard of at that time. The building’s unusual facade included terracotta masks of comedic and tragic figures. The lavish 2,500-seat cinema also contained a stage, used many years later when the building became a performing arts centre. It has since partly collapsed -
Book-Cadillac Hotel , 2012
Architect: Louis Kamper. Built: 1924. An Italian Renaissance-style hotel built by Detroit’s famous Book brothers, was the tallest building in the city and tallest hotel in the world at its completion in 1924. With 33 floors, a three-level basement, 1,136 guest rooms and a penthouse that boasted its own radio station, the Book-Cadillac was the most luxurious place to stay in the city -
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Lee Plaza, 2011
Architect: Charles Noble. Built: 1929. The Lee Plaza was built as an upscale apartment building with hotel services. It opened in 1927 with 200 rooms on 15 floors. Charles Noble designed the tower with bright orange brick, capped with a red-tile roof. Griffons ornament the corners on the 13th floor -
Michigan Theatre, 2013
Architects: Rapp and Rapp. Built: 1926. Michigan Theatre is widely known for its haunting mutilation. From elegant auditorium to decrepit parking garage, this historic landmark went through its share of transformations. From the beginning, the site of the future theatre had automotive history attached to it. In a brick shed on this same land in 1886, Henry Ford completed his first experimental vehicle, known as the quadricycle