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Metropolitan Building (Detroit)
Encyclopedia
The Metropolitan Building is a high-rise office building located on a triangular
lot at 33 John R Street in downtown Detroit, Michigan
, near Grand Circus Park.
The building was built in 1924 and finished in 1925. It stands at 15 stories and was once occupied by shops, offices, and the facilities of jewelry manufacturers and wholesalers leading it to also be known as the "Jeweler's Building". The manufacture of luminous watch dials in the building left behind several toxic substances that have thwarted redevelopment plans. Architects Weston and Ellington
designed it in a Neo-Gothic style. The exterior of the building is faced with brick
, granite
, and terra cotta
.
The Metropolitan Building closed in 1977 and current plans call for development into loft
s. In March 2010, the Downtown Development Authority voted to install safety scaffolding and netting on the building to prevent parts of the facade from falling.
Triangle
A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....
lot at 33 John R Street in downtown Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, near Grand Circus Park.
The building was built in 1924 and finished in 1925. It stands at 15 stories and was once occupied by shops, offices, and the facilities of jewelry manufacturers and wholesalers leading it to also be known as the "Jeweler's Building". The manufacture of luminous watch dials in the building left behind several toxic substances that have thwarted redevelopment plans. Architects Weston and Ellington
Weston and Ellington
Weston and Ellington Prolific Detroit based architectural firm operating in the 1910s and 1920s. They designed numerous apartment buildings, offices, auto sales buildings and other commercial structures, mostly in and around the city of Detroit....
designed it in a Neo-Gothic style. The exterior of the building is faced with brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
, granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, and terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
.
The Metropolitan Building closed in 1977 and current plans call for development into loft
Loft
A loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
s. In March 2010, the Downtown Development Authority voted to install safety scaffolding and netting on the building to prevent parts of the facade from falling.
