Chalk up one for preservationists.
Detroit’s Historic District Commission denied permission to the owners of the architecturally significant State Savings Bank to demolish the structure to build a parking garage, John Gallagher reports in the Free Press..
The commission’s staff told the commission at the start of the public hearing Wednesday evening that the owners of the bank met none of the four criteria in the city’s landmarks ordinance that would allow demolition. . . .
The commission’s staff reported that it had received 10 letters of support for demolition and 757 petition signatures and letters opposing demolition.
About 20 speakers rose to oppose demolition of the 1900 Beaux Arts building at Shelby and West Fort downtown.
Emilie Evans, a preservation specialist with the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, told the commission that a parking garage would create “more dead space in the heart of downtown.” She added, “Detroit deserves better than another flattened landmark.”
Wednesday morning article:
Architectural guardians on Detroit's Historic District Commission will hear Wednesday from a Canadian developer who seeks clearance to raze a century-old building downtown and put up a parking lot.
The former bank is at West Fort and Shelby downtown.
In a Free Press opinion column, staff member and local history author Dan Austin hopes the former State Savings Bank -- an "irreplaceable piece of our city's history" --won't be leveled.
The former bank at West Fort Street and Shelby isn’t just another old building. It’s a real looker and a clear candidate to be Detroit’s next great renovation story. . .
While the bank might look dinky compared with some of the city’s soaring skyscrapers, it is no less important. The State Savings Bank, recently known as the Savoyard Centre, opened as the People’s State Bank in 1900. It was designed by the renowned American architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. . . .
The bank’s age, its classic beauty and its history have earned the structure a spot on the city, state and federal registers of historic places.
Those designations create demolition hurdles for Andreas Apostolopoulos of Toronto, who bought the building last year for $700,000, Austin notes.
Apostolopoulos would have to prove financial hardship — and considering he also owns the three-building Penobscot complex, the Pontiac Silverdome and wants to erect a massive soccer stadium downtown, that won’t be easy. He’d then have to put the structure up for sale for a year before he would be granted permission for demolition. . . .
Who wouldn’t want to grab such a beautiful — and historic-tax-credit-qualified — building in the heart of downtown, especially one that requires relatively little sprucing up?
For now, Austin encourages preservation advocates to attend the public hearing as the owner presents his parking lot plan.
It is time to take a stand now to save our city’s past for future generations.
The Detroit Historic District Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 13th-floor auditorium of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave. in downtown Detroit.
