Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2007 » Where WAS this building--part 2 « Previous Next »
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 1122
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 3:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


mystery building 2-1


mystery building 2-2

mystery building 2-3

all different views of the same building, years apart with some changes to the structure
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Ja1mz
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Username: Ja1mz

Post Number: 17
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 5:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Looks like an old Michigan Bell office..like the one on Grainer?...near Gratiot?
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Royce
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Username: Royce

Post Number: 2118
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 9:22 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Definitely looks like its on one of the radial streets, Gratiot, Grand River, or Michigan.
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Urbanize
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Username: Urbanize

Post Number: 193
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 11:14 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh no, I can tell you you're way off. The Gratiot/6 Mile Bell station is pretty square and isn't directly cornering Gratiot but more so surrounded y N,S,E,W streets (Schoenherr, Grotto, Greiner, an alley).
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Urbanize
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Username: Urbanize

Post Number: 194
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 11:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That looks like some building off Grand River judging by how it's structured into the landscapre.
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Detroitplanner
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Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 1089
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 11:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Grand River and the Blvd before a new skin?
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3190
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroit Edison's Chandler Substation, Conner & E Warren. Believe it or not, it's still there.
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Urbanize
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Username: Urbanize

Post Number: 234
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:26 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I know the sign for the bill-paying customers are still there. That seems right.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2090
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mikem: Can you be more precise on the location? I'm not seeing it in the aerial shots I'm looking at. Thanks.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3191
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Maybe a ½ block south of Warren on the eastside of Conner?
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Urbanize
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Username: Urbanize

Post Number: 235
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Right there behind the Popeyes Kathleen on Conner.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2091
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You mean that short building that is in the southeast corner of the intersection? I'm guessing that's where the Popeye's Chicken is. If that's the right building, what happened to the rest of it? If it's not, please be more specific. Thanks.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2092
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, maybe it's not that short. I think I'm just used to looking at all the skyscrapers!!!
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Urbanize
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Username: Urbanize

Post Number: 238
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

IT's not WHERE the Popeyes is now, it's ext to it surrounded by an alley (or Popeye's drive thru) and a vacant lot on the corner of Eugene.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3192
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 11:44 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sorry Kathleen, I should have given you a little more help.
After:






Before:





:-)
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2093
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 12:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sorry, Urbanize, I did't mean to imply this building was where the Popeye's is. I was looking at the aerial map and saw what I thought was Popeye's and was looking at the building behind it.

Thanks, Mikem, for the two photos. It is way shorter than it was. I just wasn't sure how short I was seeing in the aerial view (using Windows Live Local).
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 1127
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 1:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MikeM--as usual, you are da man! I didn't realize that they partially demolished the building. I've only been over there a few times and never had those pictures with me. Why did they demolish the upper floors?
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3197
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 1:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't know why. My guess would be that it suffered a fire at some point and its main function was replaced by the outdoor Mack substation nearby (west side of Conner, north of Mack), although the Mack substation wasn't built until 1974, while this building was shortened sometime in the late 1950s.
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 1128
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 1:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

thanks Mike. The middle image in my initial post was taken in Nov of 1954
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 2837
Registered: 10-2004
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 1:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wasn't that building more of an office & payment center than an actual substation? The electrical part of that structure seemed pretty much confined to the outside.

I remember seeing the DTE building on Livernois and Michigan as a visiting kid from Milwaukee during the mid 1950s being where people paid their bills and exchanged their burnt-out light bulbs for good ones.

I think my parents cheated a bit and traded in some of theirs...
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 3199
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, March 18, 2007 - 2:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Like many of the other multi-story substations around here, it probably was filled with smaller transformers inside, rotary converters, circuit breakers, breaker panels, switchgear, communications gear, etc. Certainly it contained a few offices for the staff which operated the substation, possibly a district office for line crews or engineering staff, but the electrical equipment was not confined to the outside. Usually the first few floors were open in the center for ventilation.

The bill paying was usually done at commercial offices. I don't have any record of this location ever hosting that function, but it could have had a payment drop box.

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