You will see that the devastation which has befallen University Club has come in just over one calender year. Ren’s photo from spring of 2008 shows a “for sale” sign, and a secure building.
The basement looks gutted by scrappers, and they are already making trips up to the roof for copper flashing. The leaded windows are melting away, and without attention will simply slough off the frame.
This building was also operated as the Downtown YWCA for a while after the University Cliub left it, right? I remember them moving there after their building was torn down for the building of Comerica Park. I guess they couldn’t afford to keep it up.
Its current condition is a real shame. Such a beautiful building. In answer to the first poster: “A place like that cannot be left to rot can it?’ Oh yes, in Detroit it can. Things that would be very valuable anywhere else, or a mere 8 miles to the north, are left to die in Detroit because we live in a place that’s apparently such anethema to the world around it that they’d prefer we rotted or starved into oblivion, taking all of our history with us.
I dont know the exact status of the building, but it has been left unattended and has been completely open for some time. People have been living in it. Scrapping is started but not finished. I consider it to abandoned, but still savable at this time if somebody has authority and finances to seal it.
Yeah, thats a real book collection, and I did see things that shouldnt be left for theft or arson. Several good pianos too. I hope they dont eventually end up on SNWEBs “abandoned piano” reel. lol…(he had a video of himself playing various piano carcasses in multiple abandoned locations a few years back….inside joke I guess, but it seems there are pianos in every abandoned building…)
But if nobody connected to the building cares about it, there is no way it can be protected. This is an example – along with Brodhead Armory, of buildings that should not be left to die and are still savable.
This building was also operated as the Downtown YWCA for a while after the University Cliub left it, right? I remember them moving there after their building was torn down for the building of Comerica Park. I guess they couldn’t afford to keep it up.
Its current condition is a real shame. Such a beautiful building. In answer to the first poster: “A place like that cannot be left to rot can it?’ Oh yes, in Detroit it can. Things that would be very valuable anywhere else, or a mere 8 miles to the north, are left to die in Detroit because we live in a place that’s apparently such anethema to the world around it that they’d prefer we rotted or starved into oblivion, taking all of our history with us.
This site always puts me in a “Detroit Funk”
I dont know the exact status of the building, but it has been left unattended and has been completely open for some time. People have been living in it. Scrapping is started but not finished. I consider it to abandoned, but still savable at this time if somebody has authority and finances to seal it.
Yeah, thats a real book collection, and I did see things that shouldnt be left for theft or arson. Several good pianos too. I hope they dont eventually end up on SNWEBs “abandoned piano” reel. lol…(he had a video of himself playing various piano carcasses in multiple abandoned locations a few years back….inside joke I guess, but it seems there are pianos in every abandoned building…)
But if nobody connected to the building cares about it, there is no way it can be protected. This is an example – along with Brodhead Armory, of buildings that should not be left to die and are still savable.
Did you see any interesting books on the shelves? I can’t believe some of the stuff left behind.
So is this place abandoned or semi abandoned or what? A place like that cannot be left to rot can it?