Located just south of the Fox Theater and Comerica Park, there is a beautiful green park bisected by historic Woodward Avenue. Grand Circus Park, as it is known, is one of the most interesting public spaces in Detroit. The Parisian-inspired Park, accented by beautiful fountains and sculptures, was once considered the heart of the city. The design of downtown Detroit and its spoked wheel road network were no accident. The Downtown Civic center is actually a close replica of downtown Paris, and Grand Circus Park was the geographic anchor of this French facsimile. Having been founded by the French in 1701, Detroit is 75 years older than the rest of the nation. Grand Circus Park was established in 1850, some forty-five years after the great fire of 1805 wiped out most of downtown Detroit. The Park and its surrounding buildings were placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1983.

 

  
     
 

The tallest and most well known of these abandoned structures is the Broderick Tower. Formerly known as Eaton Tower, it was constructed by architect Louis Kamper in 1927. Stretching an astonishing 35 stories into the Detroit skyline, the tower is one of the greatest symbols of Detroit’s industrial boom and subsequent decline. The building faced serious turmoil around the time of the depression and in the 1940s it was purchased by David Broderick, an insurance broker whose offices can still be visited in the deserted tower. Professionals like lawyers, dentists, doctors, and optometrists used much of the floor space between the ground floor and the upper levels. Some floors close to the top were set aside for residential living, like the two story penthouse which features a marble fireplace sitting room, a luxurious “sky bar,” and four separate terraces for enjoying the views of the glorious city below.
   
The decline of the manufacturing base, and erosion of the once substantial population in Michigan caused the building to close and lie dormant for decades. In the mid 90s, local artist Wyland was contracted to paint a 20-story mural on the east face of the tower. The giant painting referred to as “Wyland’s Whaling Wall" dominates the view from Comerica Park – a majestic aquatic scene complete with humpback whales swimming in the ocean. This was the first of many whaling walls that Wyland was contracted to do. From Chicago to Dallas, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Cleveland to Canada, Japan, and Australia Wyland’s whales adorn some100 buildings all over the world. Recently, however, the Broderick’s owners covered the popular piece of artwork with advertising in an attempt to raise money to renovate the 35-floor tower into high-end lofts and retail space.  
     

 

 

  

Directly across Woodward from the Broderick Tower is a gleaming 26-floor white glazed terra cotta brick building known as the David Whitney. Architects Graham, Anderson, Probst & White constructed the “flat-wedge” shaped tower in 1916. Like the Broderick, the majority of space in the David Whitney was used as offices. The bottom four floors housed retailers like drug stores, clothing stores, and restaurants in what was essentially a pre-modern mall, with storefronts opening into a covered indoor atrium. The David Whitney Building was abandoned in the late 1990s after years of decline. For a period of about a year, several doors had been broken into, leaving the building wide open to scrappers and the elements. However, this building was still in excellent condition when I explored it some time ago, but that is subject for another article.
     
Next to the David Whitney are two empty grass covered lots. The smaller one was the former site of the Tuller Hotel, and the other, larger lot represented the massive footprint left behind by the Statler Hotel. The Statler was abandoned in the late 1970s, and was torn down by the city just before the Super Bowl in 2006. In an effort to improve the areas image for the expected onslaught of tourists, the old V-shaped structure was painstakingly dismantled brick by brick. The Tuller Hotel was a pioneer of the hotel industry in Detroit back in the 1900s. It was expanded several times to accommodate the growing need for hotel space in downtown during the war boom. The Tuller was eventually torn down in the mid 1990s because it had become a haven for junkies and the homeless after many, many years of abandonment.  
     

On the furthest western edge of Grand Circus Park next to the site of the now defunct Tuller Hotel is the United Artist Theater. This mighty orange brick building was built in 1927, and was used mostly as office space for the budding film industry, which United Artist had much control over. Attached to the 18-story office building was a grand theater decorated in a classic Aztec style seen often in Detroit during the 1920s. Its luster and opulence rivaled that of the Fox, Michigan or Fisher Theaters that also dominated the movie house industry. Local businessman and real-estate magnate Mike Illich and his Illich Holding Co. have recently secured the building and are currently stabilizing the interior in hopes of preserving the remarkable theater and its fascinating Aztec sculptures.

 

The Park Apartment Building nearby is virtually empty with only a handful of tenants remaining in the shabby 24-floor building. Next to it is the Park Place Hotel –a rotting, debris-filled mess. Interior doors from the offices inside the building now cover the broken and stripped windows that speak volumes about the plight of the area. Relics from former tenants can be seen stacked ceiling high on most floors where the windows are not covered. On the other side of the Kales the remaining façade of the Adams Theater that once hovered over the street. The theater and Fine Arts building behind it were recently knocked down to make way for future development. The Illich family also controls this site and in an effort to preserve what could be saved, the heavy cobblestone and brick façade is now propped up with large metal scaffolding. Further down, The Fyfe apartments on the corner of Woodward and Adams is holding on in these rough times. The very slim building is a Gothic throwback to the architecture of the late 1880s and still offers a stunning view of the park and surrounding area.

 

Lining the north side of Grand Circus Park is a mix of partially occupied buildings and dilapidated eyesores. The tall slender Kales building, formerly known as Kresge Tower, was renovated into upscale lofts after sitting abandoned for more than 20 years. This rehab project is one of few bright spots for the area and the Kales renovation in 2000 was hopped to spark a revitalization in pre-depression architecture around the area of the park. Today Detroit and its many landmarks are still waiting for that day to come.
   
 
   
  Across Woodward is the Central United Methodist Church, one of the oldest churches in Detroit. Its condition, however, is much better than that of most buildings surrounding it even though it was built much earlier than its neighbors. Next to the church is a small row of retailers: mostly bodega like shops offering little more than cheap knockoff sports memorabilia and souvenirs. On the far end opposite the church is a three-floor Bavarian looking building that was renovated in 2005 and is home to a chili bar restaurant. On the corner of Madison and the parkway is the one true success of the Grand Circus Park area – the Detroit Opera House; formally the Columbia Theater it was the first proper entertainment and movie house in the entire city. It too was a decrepit and derelict building just some 20 years ago. After much fundraising the renovations to the site were complete and it opened in 1996 as the Detroit Opera House.
     
Grand Circus Park was once a place filled with the businesses one would associate with a vibrant and lively city. The park and its buildings have fallen victim to years of neglect, the elements, scrappers, vandals, politics and now what may be the final nail in the coffin… the abysmal economy of this new depression era in Detroit. Currently the park is filled with mostly homeless, and destitute transients who spend much of their time panhandling to patrons who frequent the nearby sporting arenas. Perhaps one-day Grand Circus Park will be alive again, but for now, it continues to sit idle and decaying. For the time to come it will remain Detroit’s notorious circle of blight.