Park Avenue House

Park Avenue is very unique in Detroit for its historic urbanism -- mixed uses on a pedestrian scale -- in a city dominated by the automobile and patterns of low-density, sprawling development. The right-of-way of Park Avenue is only 60 feet wide, and buildings have no setback. This gives the street a sense of 'volume' for the pedestrian. The architecture and uses of Park Avenue are mixed: office buildings, apartments, hotels, social clubs, stores, and restaurants.

This is again unique in Detroit: the only other district in Detroit with such pedestrian volume is the lower Woodward retail district, which however did not include the residential and social functions. The architecture varies in age, style, and height, giving the street a distinct character that comes through accretion over time.

The proposed Park Avenue Historic District is comprised of thirteen primarily early twentieth-century buildings, including commercial, office, hotel, clubhouse, and apartment buildings, located on Park Avenue between West Adams and the West Fisher Freeway Service Drive in downtown Detroit. Two buildings flanking Park at its West Adams end, the Park Avenue Building and the Kales Building (fka Kresge Building), are within the directly adjacent Grand Circus Park Historic District, and thus not included in this district. Buildings in the district are from three to thirteen stories in height, with exteriors finished in brick and stone or terra cotta, and exemplify architectural styles ranging from Late Victorian (Richardsonian Romanesque-inspired) to Arts-and-Crafts, with Commercial Style most characteristic. The thirteen buildings in the district all contribute to the district's historic character.