Washington Boulevard Historic District is a multi-block area of

downtown Detroit Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, downtown tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Lodge Freeway) to the west, Interstate 75 ...

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 t ...

. It consists of structures facing Washington Boulevard between State and Clifford Streets. In 1982, it was added to 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 ...

. It includes the

Book-Cadillac Hotel The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit is a historic skyscraper hotel in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Washington Boulevard Historic District. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance style, and opened as the Book-Cadillac Hotel in 1924, the , 31-sto ...

, the

Book Tower The Book Tower is a , 38-story skyscraper located at 1265 Washington Boulevard in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Washington Boulevard Historic District. Construction began on the Italian Renaissance-style building in 1916, as an addition ...

, the

Industrial Building Industrial architecture is the design and construction of buildings serving industry. Such buildings rose in importance with the Industrial Revolution, starting in Britain, and were some of the pioneering structures of modern architecture. File:R ...

, and Detroit City Apartments among other architecturally significant buildings. Washington Boulevard is one of the city's main boulevards and part of

Augustus Woodward Augustus Brevoort Woodward (born Elias Brevoort Woodward; November 1774 – June 12, 1827) was the first Chief Justice of the Michigan Territory. In that position, he played a prominent role in the reconstruction of Detroit following a de ...

's 1807-design for the city. Because Woodward's plan was never completed, the boulevard contains a sharp curve south of Michigan Avenue where it was connected to an existing street. The street was broadened and ornamented in the early part of the 20th century. The development was inspired by the

City Beautiful The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...

movement and financed by J. Burgess Book Jr. and designed by Louis Kamper. It was to resemble New York's

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping ...

and European boulevards. A sculpture lined park between two one-way streets decorated a shopping district and upscale residential neighborhood Edward H. Bennett, a well known master planner, turned Washington Boulevard into a Beaux-Arts streetscape. In the late 1970s, Washington Boulevard was redesigned with an urban pedestrian mall that included new sculptures and an amphitheater. It has since been restored to its original plan.

Buildings

This list below shows the information on the buildings located along Washington Boulevard. This list starts at the Detroit River (south end), and heads northbound, terminating at

Grand Circus Park The Grand Circus Park Historic District contains the Grand Circus Park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan that connects the theatre district with its financial district. It is bisected by Woodward Avenue, four blocks north of Campus Martius Park, a ...

Gallery

File:Washington Boulevard Historic District, detroit.jpg, Washington Blvd. looking south from Clifford Street File:Detroit Washington Blvd.jpg, St. Aloysius Church and Chancery on Washington Blvd. File:Himelhoch Condos, Detroit Washing Boulevard.jpg, Himelhoch building File:Washington Blvd Historic District from Grand Circus Park.jpg, View from

File:BookCadillac1.jpg, The

Westin Book Cadillac Hotel The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit is a historic skyscraper hotel in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Washington Boulevard Historic District. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance style, and opened as the Book-Cadillac Hotel in 1924, the , 31-sto ...

is part of the historic district File:IndustrialStevenapartmentDetroit.jpg, Industrial-Stevens Apartments, another 1920s-era building File:Old map 1807 plan.jpg,

's plan following the 1805 fire for Detroit's

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

-styled radial avenues and

File:Macomb Statue, Washington Park (NBY 5616).jpg, Statue of Alexander Macomb, at the intersection of Michigan Avenue

References and further reading

External links

*City of Detroit Planning and Development Department
Washington Boulevard Historic District

Google Maps location
{{Detroit Neighborhoods Downtown Detroit Historic districts in Detroit Boulevards in the United States Streets in Michigan 1901 establishments in Michigan Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit History of Detroit Neighborhoods in Detroit

Buildings

Gallery

See also

References and further reading

External links