Midtown Woodward Historic District

The Midtown Woodward Historic District is significant under Criterion A for its association with the commercial development of Detroit in the early twentieth century. The district's buildings reflect the growth of Detroit as a major industrial and commercial center during this period. The district is also significant under Criterion C for its collection of early twentieth-century commercial architecture, which includes examples of the Commercial Style, Craftsman, Tudor Revival, Art Deco, and Moderne styles. The district's buildings were designed by prominent Detroit architects, including Albert Kahn and Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, and they reflect the architectural trends of the time.

The Midtown Woodward Historic District developed as a commercial corridor along Woodward Avenue, Detroit's primary north-south thoroughfare. The district's growth was spurred by the expansion of the city's streetcar system and the increasing use of automobiles, which made the area more accessible to shoppers and businesses. The district's buildings housed a variety of businesses, including automobile dealerships, restaurants, theaters, and retail stores, reflecting the diverse commercial activity in the area.

The district's architectural significance lies in its collection of early twentieth-century commercial buildings, which display a range of styles and materials. The buildings are primarily of masonry construction, with decorative cladding of stone or terra cotta. The district includes notable examples of the Commercial Style, such as the Studebaker Building and the Walker Brothers Catering Company building, as well as examples of the Craftsman, Tudor Revival, Art Deco, and Moderne styles. The district's buildings were designed by prominent Detroit architects, including Albert Kahn, who designed the Peninsular Engraving Company building, and Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, who designed the Studebaker Building.

The Midtown Woodward Historic District retains a high degree of integrity, with most of its buildings retaining their historic appearance. Although some buildings have been lost since the period of significance, the district largely retains its historic character, in contrast to the vacant spaces that surround it. The district's buildings have been well maintained, and several have been rehabilitated in recent years, restoring their historic appearance. The district's concentration of historic commercial buildings contrasts sharply with the vacant lots and scattered buildings around it, making it a significant example of early twentieth-century commercial architecture in Detroit.

The Midtown Woodward Historic District is a linear commercial district centered on Woodward Avenue in Detroit; fourteen of the fifteen buildings in the district front Woodward Avenue. Encompassing 8.7 acres, the Midtown Woodward Historic District is approximately 925 feet long and 650 feet wide at its maximum points. The Midtown Woodward Historic District contains thirteen contributing and two non-contributing buildings. All are of masonry construction, and two-story commercial buildings predominate. The thirteen contributing buildings display a range of architectural styles, including Commercial Style, Craftsman, Tudor Revival, Art Deco, Moderne, and several classical variations. They range in date from 1902 to 1947, with the majority built in the 1910s and 1920s. Although a few buildings have been lost since 1947, the Midtown Woodward Historic District largely retains its appearance from that time, in contrast to the vacant spaces that surround it. Most of the buildings are occupied, and several have recently been rehabilitated, restoring their historic appearance.

The Midtown Woodward Historic District is located in the southern part of the area known as Midtown Detroit, which is bounded by the Edsel Ford Freeway (I-94) on the north, Chrysler Freeway (I-75) on the east, Fisher Freeway (I-75) on the south, and John C. Lodge Freeway (M-10) on the west. Woodward Avenue, Detroit's primary north-south road, runs through the center of Midtown Detroit. Downtown Detroit is to the south, separated from Midtown Detroit by the Fisher Freeway; the New Center is to the north, above the Edsel Ford Freeway at West Grand Boulevard. Major roads divide Midtown Detroit into three sections. In the northern section, above Warren Avenue, Wayne State University and the Cultural Center—anchored by the Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Institute of Arts—dominate the landscape. In the middle section, between Warren Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/Mack Avenue, the dense, mostly commercial streetscape along Woodward is a mix of old and new construction. Orchestra Hall and the David Whitney mansion, now a restaurant, are notable historic buildings on this section of Woodward. The Detroit Medical Center complex is east of Woodward. In the southern section of Midtown Detroit, below Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Mack Avenue, the Woodward streetscape is sparse outside of the Midtown Woodward Historic District. Immediately south of the district on the east side of Woodward are the First Presbyterian Church and First Unitarian Church of Detroit, two red sandstone Romanesque style churches built ca. 1890 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Just south of the churches, a vacant, one-story commercial building built in the 1920s lacks integrity. On the west side of Woodward, a one-story commercial building built in the 1960s adjoins the Professional Building on the north. In eight blocks of Woodward between the Fisher Freeway, to the district's south, and Mack Avenue, to the district's north, the only additional buildings are the Crosswinds townhouses (ca. 1999), two vacant 1960s gasoline service stations, and the Arcadia Apartments (ca. 1973). There is a greater amount of historic fabric in the residential historic districts to the east and west of the Midtown Woodward Historic District. The Brush Park Historic District extends eastward from the east side of Woodward, and the Peterboro-Charlotte Historic District extends westward from the west side of Woodward. Both of these locally designated historic districts are predominantly residential away from Woodward, with late nineteenth-century houses and early twentieth-century apartment buildings interspersed with vacant lots.

Woodward Avenue runs at a slight southeast to northwest angle through the center of the Midtown Woodward Historic District. Side streets Erskine and Watson extend to the east from Woodward, and Peterboro and Charlotte extend to the west. Because the land on either side of Woodward was subdivided by different developers at different times, the side streets do not meet at Woodward. There are traffic lights at each intersection. Nine lanes wide, Woodward Avenue is paved with asphalt, with strips of brick paving along each curb. The side streets are two to three lanes wide and paved with asphalt. Brick alleys run behind a majority of the buildings but are missing on the east side of Woodward below Erskine. There are wide concrete sidewalks throughout. With the exception of the gasoline service station at the corner of Woodward and Peterboro, all of the buildings are built out to the sidewalk, and in several places they form a continuous facade. There is a vacant area on the west side of Woodward north of the Addison Apartments and another on the east side of Woodward south of Erskine Street. In part these were created when buildings were removed, but a portion of the east side space was never developed, and it was used for parking during most of the period of significance. Victorian-style streetlamps and young flowering trees along Woodward are the result of the University Cultural Center Association's recent streetscape enhancement initiative.

The commercial buildings that predominate in the Midtown Woodward Historic District are mostly two stories tall, but they also include the one-story Standard Oil service station, three-story Weslow Arcade, and six-story Professional Building. Two apartment hotels add a vertical counterpoint: the six-story Addison Apartments and the eight-story Imperial Hotel. Occupying a corner of Charlotte and Woodward, the wide Addison is more visually prominent than the Imperial; though the latter is taller, it is narrow and set back on Peterboro Street. The imposing domed mass of the Bonstelle Theatre, a 1920s remodeling of the Temple Beth El, anchors the northern end of the district. No single architectural style predominates in the district. The Commercial Style is most numerous with four examples. The Addison Apartments (1905), Bonstelle Theatre (1902), and Studebaker Building (1911) display different classical interpretations. Albert Kahn's 1913 Peninsular Engraving Company building is the lone example of Craftsman style, and the 1923 Imperial Hotel is the single example of Tudor Revival. When Woodward was widened in the mid-1930s, the Weslow Arcade and the Majestic Institute for Dancing received new Art Deco facades. Though it was not affected by the street widening, Greenfield's Restaurant underwent a streamlined Moderne makeover in the 1930s. The 1947 Standard Oil service station—the last building constructed during the period of significance—is also streamlined Moderne. Just as buildings were updated in the 1930s, in the mid-1960s the Professional Building was renewed with an International Style glass and aluminum curtain wall. Because the new facade is less than fifty years old, the building is counted as non-contributing. All of the buildings in the district are of masonry construction, either brick or concrete. Many of them have decorative cladding of stone or terra cotta on the front and on the sides that face the street.

Four buildings that were present during the period of significance are no longer extant. On the west side of Woodward immediately north of the Addison, three late nineteenth-century brick rowhouses were converted into the Hotel DuNord in the early twentieth century. The Hotel DuNord was operating under a different name in the early 1960s; it was gone by 1977. Immediately north of the Hotel DuNord, another late nineteenth-century brick house remained in use as a rooming house and stores as late as 1977 but was gone by 1988. On the east side of Woodward at the corner of Watson Street, a one-story brick commercial building built in the 1920s was demolished ca. 2000 and replaced by the two-story brick Art Building. Though it is non-contributing, the Art Building is inconspicuous. At the southeast corner of Woodward and Erskine Street, the Radio Cab Company taxi service building was built in the 1930s with a two-story rounded corner tower and one-story bays. Still in use in 1977, the building was gone by 1988. Despite these losses, the concentration of historic commercial buildings in the Midtown Woodward Historic District contrasts sharply with the vacant lots and scattered buildings around it.

The Midtown Woodward Historic District contains one of the most intact concentrations of early twentieth-century commercial buildings remaining from the historic commercial corridor that once extended along Woodward from downtown Detroit to the New Center area and beyond. As such, the district is locally significant under National Register Criterion A in the area of commerce for representing this important aspect of Detroit's commercial history. In addition to retail establishments, the district contained theaters, dance halls, and billiard rooms that formed part of Midtown Detroit's concentration of entertainment and recreational venues serving the neighborhood and others. Thus, the district is also significant in the area of entertainment/recreation. The cluster of commercial buildings, theaters, and apartment buildings in styles ranging from Commercial Style to Moderne is significant under Criterion C in the area of architecture as a physical representation of the now-fragmented historic Woodward corridor. In addition, the work of Detroit master architects Albert Kahn and C. Howard Crane is represented in the district, most prominently in the Temple Beth El/Bonstelle Theatre, which is individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The period of significance begins in 1905, when the construction of the Addison Apartments began the transition of the district from single-family to multi-family housing and predominantly-commercial businesses. It ends in 1947 when the Standard Oil service station was the last building constructed in the district.

The Midtown Woodward Historic District is a linear commercial district centered on Woodward Avenue in Detroit-fourteen of the fifteen buildings in the district front Woodward Avenue. Encompassing 8.7 acres, the Midtown Woodward Historic District is approximately 925 feet long and 650 feet wide at its maximum points. The Midtown Woodward Historic District contains thirteen contributing and two non-contributing buildings. All are of masonry construction, and two-story commercial buildings predominate. The thirteen contributing buildings display a range of architectural styles, including Commercial Style, Craftsman, Tudor Revival, Art Deco, Moderne, and several classical variations. They range in date from 1902 to 1947, with the majority built in the 1910s and 1920s. Although a few buildings have been lost since 1947, the Midtown Woodward Historic District largely retains its appearance from that time, in contrast to the vacant spaces that surround it. Most of the buildings are occupied, and several have recently been rehabilitated, restoring their historic appearance.