The Grand Circus Park Historic District contains the Grand Circus Park in Downtown Detroit,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

that connects the theatre district with its

financial district A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

. It is bisected by Woodward Avenue, four blocks north of

Campus Martius Park Campus Martius Park ( ') is a re-established park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for ''Field of Mars'', where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of Judge Augustus Woodward's plans to ...

, and is roughly bounded by Clifford, John R. and Adams Streets. The district was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1983. The building at 25 West Elizabeth Street was added to the district in 2000, and additional structures located within the district, but built between 1932 and 1960, were approved for inclusion in 2012.

History

A part of Augustus Woodward's plan to rebuild the city after the fire of 1805, the city established the park in 1850. Woodward's original plan called for the park to be a full circle, but after construction began, property owners north of Adams Street were reluctant to sell due to rising land values. The

Detroit Opera House The Detroit Opera House is an ornate opera house located at 1526 Broadway Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Grand Circus Park Historic District. The 2,700-seat venue is the home of productions of the Detroit Opera and a variety of ...

overlooks the eastern edge of the park and the grounds include statuary and large fountains. Near this historic site, General

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

delivered a eulogy for thousands gathered to mourn the death of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. Architect

Henry Bacon Henry Bacon (November 28, 1866February 16, 1924) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who is best remembered for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (built 1915–1922), which was his final project. Education and early career Henr ...

designed the ''

Russell Alger Memorial Fountain Russell Alger Memorial Fountain is a Detroit, Detroit, Michigan fountain, one of the "most successful collaborations" created by the sculptor, Daniel Chester French and architect Henry Bacon. The bronze statue was cast by the Gorham Manufacturi ...

'' (1921) in Grand Circus Park. Bacon's other projects include the '' Lincoln Memorial'' (1915–1922) in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The fountain contains a classic Roman figure symbolizing Michigan by American sculptor Daniel French who sculpted the figure of Lincoln for the Memorial. Grand Circus Park from D

In 1957, the City of Detroit constructed a parking garage under the two halves of the park. The eastern portion houses space for 250 cars and the western portion accommodates 540. The half-moon shaped park is divided down its center by

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...

, the city's main thoroughfare. The Alger Fountain anchors the eastern half and is capped on its north western edge with a statue of mayor

William Cotter Maybury William Cotter Maybury (November 20, 1848 – May 6, 1909) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Early life Maybury was born in Detroit, Michigan, on November 20, 1848, the son of Thomas Maybury. He attended public schools ...

. Its western half is anchored by the Edison Fountain and capped on its north eastern edge with a statue of mayor

Hazen Pingree Hazen Stuart Pingree (August 30, 1840 – June 18, 1901) was a four-term Republican mayor of Detroit (1889–1897) and the 24th Governor of the U.S. State of Michigan (1897–1901). A Yankee who migrated from New England, he was a successful Rep ...

. The Maybury and Pingree monuments have been relocated several times. The Pingree statue was erected in 1904 near Woodward and Park Avenues facing south, while his rival, Maybury, occupied a site in the eastern half of the park facing Pingree across Woodward Avenue. After the 1957 garage construction, Pingree was returned to his original site while Maybury was placed at the north boundary of the park with his back to his foe. In the 1990s, both statues moved once again to their current locations. Among the notable buildings encircling the park are the

David Broderick Tower The Broderick Tower is a residential skyscraper in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Original construction began in 1926, and was completed in 1928. The Broderick was fully renovated in 2012 by JC Beal Construction Inc.,who also served as the develope ...

and

David Whitney Building The David Whitney Building is a historic class-A skyscraper located at 1 Park Avenue (1550 Woodward Avenue from 1921 to 2014), on the northern edge of Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Grand Circus Park Historic District. The building stand ...

on the south,

Kales Building The Kales Building is a high-rise apartment building in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is located 76 West Adams at the northeast corner of Adams Avenue West and Park Avenue, across from Grand Circus Park, in the Foxtown neighborhood, just north ...

, and Central United Methodist Church on the north, and

Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, the Tigers had played at the c ...

and

on the East.

Development

On November 12, 2007,

Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage, LLC (formerly known as Quicken Loans LLC) is a mortgage loan provider. It is headquartered in the One Campus Martius building in the financial district of Downtown Detroit, Michigan. In January 2018, the company became the la ...

announced its development agreement with the city to move its headquarters to downtown Detroit, consolidating about 4,000 of its suburban employees in a move considered to be a high importance to city planners to reestablish the historic downtown. The construction sites reserved for development under the agreement include the location of the former Statler on Grand Circus Park and the former Hudson's location. (The western edge of the park was formerly home to the now demolished Statler and Tuller hotels). Grand Circus is serviced by a

People Mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

station.

East necklace

The

is located at Broadway and Grand Circus. The ''east necklace'' of downtown links Grand Circus and the stadium area to Greektown along Broadway. The east necklace contains a sub-district sometimes called the ''Harmonie Park District,'' which has taken on the renowned legacy of Detroit's music from 1930s through the 1950s to the present. Near the

Opera House An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...

, and emanating from Grand Circus along the east necklace are other venues including the

Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts The Music Hall Center for Performing Arts is a 1,731-seat theatre located in the city's theatre district at 350 Madison Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was built in 1928 as the Wilson Theatre, designated a Michigan State Historic Site i ...

and the Gem Theatre and Century Club. The historic

Harmonie Club The Harmonie Club is a private social club in New York City. Founded in 1852, the club is the second oldest social club in New York. It is located at 4 East 60th Street, in a building designed by Stanford White. History Originally named the ...

and

Harmonie Centre The Harmonie Centre, also known as the Breitmeyer–Tobin Building, is an eight-story commercial building located at 1308 Broadway Street (at the corner of Broadway and Gratiot) in Downtown Detroit. It is part of the Broadway Avenue Historic Dis ...

are located along Broadway. The Harmonie Park area ends near Gratiot and Randolph. The

Detroit Athletic Club The Detroit Athletic Club (often referred to as the DAC) is a private social club and athletic club located in the heart of Detroit's theater, sports, and entertainment district. It is located across the street from Detroit's historic Music Hall ...

stands in view of center field at

. Part of the east necklace, the area contains architecturally notable buildings planned for renovation as high-rise residential condominiums such as the Gothic Revival Metropolitan Building at 33 John R Street. The Hilton Garden Inn is also in the Harmonie Park area. The east necklace area is serviced by the People Mover at the Cadillac and Broadway Stations.

Gallery

File:GradCircusParkfountainDetroitMI.jpg, Thomas Edison Memorial Fountain File:Detroit Mayor William H. Maybury.jpg, Detroit Mayor William C. Maybury Monument File:Pingree_statue,_Grad_Circus_Park,_Detroit.jpg, Hazen S. Pingree Monument File:Grand Circus Park path - Detroit Michigan.jpg, The central green of the park is a common lunch spot for office workers File:Summer in Grand Circus Park.JPG, Grand Circus Park, looking north File:RussellAlgersfoundGCircParkdetroit.jpg, ''

'' is the only Daniel Chester French work in Detroit File:Central Methodist at Detroit Grand Circus Park.jpg, Central United Methodist Church, in

Victorian gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, overlooks Grand Circus Park File:CheliBarrooflooking at Grand Circus park.jpg, Cheli's Chili Bar on West Adams Street overlooking

File:25ElizabethDetroit.jpg, The building at 25 West Elizabeth, part of the

Michigan Mutual Liability Company Complex The Michigan Mutual Liability Company Complex is located in Foxtown, along West Elizabeth Street and West Adams Avenue, between Woodward Avenue and Park Avenue, just across Adams Ave. from Grand Circus Park, in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The two ...

File:Park Avenue Building 1.jpg,

Park Avenue Building The Park Avenue Building is a 12-story beaux-arts high-rise located at 2001–2017 Park Avenue in the Grand Circus Park Historic District The Grand Circus Park Historic District contains the Grand Circus Park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan th ...

File:Detroitkalesbldg.jpg,

References

External links

Motor City District Regains Its Luster
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The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' {{Architecture of metropolitan Detroit Historic districts in Detroit Downtown Detroit Parks in Detroit Woodward Avenue Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Culture of Detroit