The Santa Fe Apartments were an apartment building located in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The building 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 v ...

in 1986 and subsequently demolished by

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

"2020 Campus Master Plan: Existing Conditions and Analysis,"
pg. 45. Wayne State University (2002). Retrieved on 2008-07-04. and removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. The site is now the location of the Yousif B. Ghafari Hall.

History and Significance

The Santa Fe was built in 1925 for $95,000.
from the city of Detroit The building was a fine example of Mission and

Spanish Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

; this style was used frequently for homes and religious buildings, but its use in a multi-unit dwelling is rare. The building was designed by architects F. William Wiedmaier and John B. Gay, and built by Harry Dunitz. The apartment building was purchased by

in the 1950s, and was used for student housing until its demolition in 1996.

Description

The Santa Fe Apartments were a five-story apartment building, measuring 45 feet by 122 feet, built of brick, tile, and grey stone, with plentiful architectural details on the front façade. It had a predominantly flat roof, but with a prominent gable at the front. Vertical elements on the façade were created by rectangular columns and tall, narrow windows on the upper floors. The exterior also featured dentil moldings, a broken scroll pediment above the second level, and decorative railings. The sides were quoined and decorative brick and tile work graced the chimneys. The entryway was flanked on each side by a spiral column with classical type carvings just below the capital. Both Mission and

architecture usually receive a stucco treatment. However, the Santa Fe Apartments were faced with grey stone tiles with thin mortar joints in between. The roof was formed with a distinctive Mission style parapet, and the gable roof at the front was covered with red barrel tiles. The building had 38 apartments.

References

{{University–Cultural Center Multiple Resource Area Apartment buildings in Detroit Demolished buildings and structures in Detroit Residential buildings completed in 1925 Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Buildings and structures demolished in 1996