Worst hotel--can anyone beat this?

Detroit was economically booming until the Great Depression. Many students of architecture rank Detroit third for grand historic structures in the U. S., behind New York and Chicago.

There are a few buildings in Detroit that equal or surpass anything in Midtown Manhattan, in terms of opulence and quality.

The lobbies of Detroit's Guardian and Fisher Buildings rival anything on 42nd street, including the Chanin Building and the Chrysler (named after a Detroit company, after all). The most impressive Detroit buildings were built by same companies and artisans who made the New York skyscrapers.

Alas, Detroit has been hurting for over 70 years, and it's the closest thing to the Roman Forum Ruins we have in the U. S.

Here's a great website depicting some the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit.
http://detroityes.com/0tourdetroit.h...Fabulous_Ruins

Originally Posted by tlmusic

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Here's a great website depicting some the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit.
http://detroityes.com/0tourdetroit.h...Fabulous_Ruins

Thanks for the link - the level of decay is astounding.

I did a thread on the ruins of Detroit, but it appears to have been lost during the Crash. Lots of decrepit splendor--example:

heartbreaking.

For the kids in Southern California, this hotel is about par with anything near Coachella.

At those pics ^^^ City councils and planners must be blind to let such wonderful historical structures disintegrate while they continue to build these ugly-ass steel/glass skyscrapers.....

Originally Posted by rnoldh

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Depends where it is in China. A few years ago I was fortunate to go to Hong Kong a few times.

I stayed at the Peninsula, The InterContinental, and The Mandarin.

To say they were wonderful is an understatement. I'm sure there are cheap places in Hong Kong, but they are probably still better than Detroit's low end places.

You stayed at some of the best hotel HK has to offer. I have actually worked at Hilton in Toronto and Sheraton TST in HK. My brother is working at Harbourplaza hotel which is where a lot of high profile asian celebrities stay.

If you get a chance, try staying at the relatively new 4 seasons hotel at ifc central, it is ranked as one of the best.

Originally Posted by Nataku

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At those pics ^^^ City councils and planners must be blind to let such wonderful historical structures disintegrate while they continue to build these ugly-ass steel/glass skyscrapers.....

Don't worry, no one is building new steel and glass skyscrapers in Detroit.

Originally Posted by Nataku

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At those pics ^^^ City councils and planners must be blind to let such wonderful historical structures disintegrate while they continue to build these ugly-ass steel/glass skyscrapers.....

Actually, it is a rare occasion for anyone to build even an ugly steel/glass skyscraper in Detroit. Most of the buildings in the city were built before 1930.

Detroit had an infrastructure to support 2,000,000 people--now, less than 900,000 still live there. All the wealthy people and businesses moved out long ago. It really is the biggest modern "ghost town" in the world.

There is not even enough money to tear down the gigantic crumbling ruins.

Witness the most spectacular ruin of all, the Michigan Central Train Station--
It now even looks worse than it did in this nine year old film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSeIK...eature=related

I stayed at a rather interesting little hotel some years back in Kupang, in West Timor (in the Indonesian archipelago).

It was called the Sea Breezes, as it was located near the water's edge, with a creek running alongside the building down to the nearby sea.

In actual fact, it should have been called the "sewer breezes", as at low tide the creek virtually dried to a trickle, displaying piles of rubbish on the creek bed, amongst which rats freely frolicked.

The walls were so friable that I could poke holes in the masonry with a finger, and my bed was so decrepit that it collapsed when I lowered myself into it at night, leaving me to re-assemble it in the semi-darkness whilst floundering around inside mosquito-netting.

There were also a lot of worrying stains on the walls, but I convinced myself that they were most likely caused by rising damp rather than by any horrible acts that might have occurred in the room.

Still, on the positive side, it was located near to a convivial cafe/bar on a small cliff above the sea, and a night market full of food vendors convened just down the road from the hotel.

Originally Posted by tattersall

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Looks like it's in North Korea...

i bet back in the day it looked really nice. from the outside the building seems elegant enough. i also bet there used to be a lot more brownstones around the place that now got turned into parking lots.

I have a soft spot for the Leland hotel. In the 80's, it was home to a truly great punk/goth club-The City Club.

Even as a 'kid', I couldn't help but notice the beautiful marble staircase I would climb to enter the club. It was the place to go after a show and I have many a fond memory of the place.

For a club, it also had a extraordinarily long shelf life. This was most likely due to it's location-on the corner of Cass and Bagley. In the 70's and 80's, the Cass Corridor was one of the most dangerous areas of the city, which probably kept the people that make a club 'jump the shark' at arm's length.

It was the perfect setting for such a place, an architectural gem set in an urban wasteland. Paradise.

That being said, I don't think I would make a reservation today.

^I think they have two operating clubs right now, one in the basement and one on the second floor. Both are goth/punk AFAIK

Originally Posted by LabelKing

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Actually I would imagine it would be amazing to park in that, sad as it is that the building is gone.

JB