The ongoing transformation of Detroit – downtown, Midtown
and on the riverfront – has caught everyone’s attention and has elevated the
Motor City’s reputation immensely.
But are the redevelopment projects happening too fast,
too haphazardly, without regard for historic preservation?
planner standing in the way of progress but rather it’s the warning expressed by
a conservative Republican activist and freelance writer, Dennis Lennox.
In a Detroit News column, Lennox cautions
that a failure to appreciate Detroit’s 19th Century architecture — and many gems from the subsequent decades — could “transform
the city into something barely distinguishable from the plate-glass and
concrete jungles of other urban environs.”
architectural features that can only be preserved, not duplicated, in the rapid
pace of 21st Century demolish-and-rebuild property development, Lennox sees
prime examples of a lack of respect for Detroit’s past in plans for historic Fort
Wayne and the area surrounding the new Red Wings arena, stretching to Brush
Park.
including the circa 1878
Ransom Gillis House, located about five minutes from Comerica Park and
Ford Field, are being restored as part of plans for 300 new housing
units,” Lennox wrote.
“Yet instead of incorporating Brush Park’s existing architectural
style, the developers have chosen to build structures that are at best
bland and at worst hideous, at least judging from renderings released
to the public earlier this year.
“To be clear, development isn’t a naughty word. … However, development must
focus on leveraging Detroit’s rich heritage to make it a world-class city in
its own right.”
