My City of Ruins

The Guardian of the U.K. has a photo set up at its “Observer” section that is truly stunning. It consists of sixteen photos of Detroit by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre that present an incredibel picture of a city laid waste. Three of them are especially striking, at least to me:

This is what remains of the Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church, a English Gothic-style church built in 1911. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

This is East Grand Boulevard Church. It was built in 1908. These are just two among many abandoned churches in Detroit.

This is the obviously closed East Side Public Library. I can understand closing a library. I can’t understand simply leaving the books there to rot.

In some ways, the most amazing thing about the photo set is that it illustrates just how unwilling Detroit has been to deal with its own decline. Some of the buildings in the photos have been abandoned for decades, yet they still stand, blights on the landscape, and reminders of better days that are now dead and gone. Detroit is by no means alone in this regard, but I will say that when I went there a couple of years ago, I was genuinely amazed at how many abandoned buildings there were even within sight of Comerica Park, which is less than ten years old and was no doubt supposed to help revitalize that part of the city.

Though written about 9/11 in New York, this could have been written about Detroit:

(Via Mark Shea.)

Brooklyn Cravens Says:

January 6, 2011 at 1:15 am

Wow, those are some cool pics. Thanks for sharing, David.

Spaulding Says:

January 6, 2011 at 7:20 am

And the Detroit Symphony members are on a different planet apparently, they are striking because $78,000 a year isn’t enough for them that if the DSO doesn’t “pay the same as the New York Philharmonic, the DSO won’t be able to attract and retain the best players.” Not getting the fact that the DSO has a $9 million deficit from past years that hasn’t been taken care of and looking at another $3 deficit for this season assuming they even start they have been on strike since October. I am hoping that the arbitrator will rule in favor of the orchestra, the players will bankrupt the orchestra. I know a lot of people that $78,000 a year sounds good to me. The DSO members need to see this just to maybe get that the individual and corporate donations aren’t there.

David Fischler Says:

January 6, 2011 at 8:35 am

You’re welcome, Brooklyn. By the way, I’ve added you to my blogroll. Thanks for reading (and I’ll be returning the favor!).

Jason Huff Says:

January 6, 2011 at 9:45 am

My church (where I write from as I type) is in Metro Detroit, approximately 15 miles from the Detroit city border. While the inner city itself has been devastated, as your pictures attest, it’s fascinating to me how virtually no one is interested in talking about the greater Detroit area. The suburbs are not thriving, but there is a lot of vitality here. It seems that when people think of Detroit, all they think of is the heart of the city. But take a look of any map of Detroit, and you’ll find that “Detroit” itself is rather smallish in comparison to all the cities and suburbs that border it as part of Metro Detroit. We have big problems, especially in the city proper, but I think there’s also a lot of hope to be found as well.

January 6, 2011 at 12:15 pm

Thanks so much, David. My blog is only a couple of months old, so I really appreciate that a lot. See you again soon – God bless!!

Jason Says:

January 6, 2011 at 2:55 pm

I’m not sure how much the continued existence of these ruins reflects negatively on the city. Lots of times, blight occurs not just because properties are abandoned, but because it can be very hard to secure clear title to blighted properties so that they can either be restored or torn down. Stuff like this can, and has, gotten bogged down in the courts so that even diligent governments have trouble getting quick resolutions. In Springfield VA, the old Chi-Chis building stood vacant for years, I mean years, while the County was fighting with various interested players to get the site demolished. Eventually, it took a fire inside the abandoned property to finally move things to completion. No doubt it’s frustrating. But in some ways, it’s frustrating for some of the same reasons that Presbyterian polity can be frustrating, in that there’s nothing too simple for us to complicate.

What’s more striking is the degree to which demolishing old churches creates angst not because the Holy Ghost has left the building, but because of the building’s architectural or ‘historical’ (conveniently undefined) significance. It’s sad that the secular world has less of a problem with losing a vibrant community of faith as they do with losing a building that has appealing architecture. That there are eerie parallels between this perspective and the perspective that’s been adopted by way too many denominational leaders regarding divisions in the church is quite symptomatic of a grim prognosis.

Kate Says:

January 6, 2011 at 4:59 pm

What struck me was the police station, with the records just spread about.

hsgbdmama Says:

January 7, 2011 at 5:00 am

Wow.

Steven Crowder did a piece on Detroit awhile back as well (it’s about 13 minutes long) to show all the decay. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw