Packard Plant
The exploration of urban ruins is not new. Places like Rome and Tikal fascinate people centuries after their native inhabitants disappeared. Detroit is still a very large city of about 900,000 people. The region boasts more than 5 million. But then enormous buildings have long stood abandoned near the core of the region.
The daring and the desperate alike have ventured into the train station, the Broderick Tower, the Packard Plant and myriad smaller wonders of neglect. It's become less and less novel to have a set of photographs from inside these places. Still, I am compelled to visit and document. Some have visited in search of shelter. Others to scavenge contents of value. Others to vandalize and destroy. Others to create artwork. I visit them to experience and document. I'm just another explorer, I know. My photographs capture just one day in the histories of their subjects.
The Packard Plant is 3.5 million square feet of buildings on the east side that have been largely abandoned for over 50 years. Much smaller businesses continued to use portions of the property until recently. The complex was considered the most modern automobile factory in the world when it was built in 1907. The company began as a luxury automaker in Warren, Ohio in 1899 and was drawn to Detroit shortly thereafter by robber baron James Joy. Albert Kahn, Detroit's most famous industrial architect, designed the plant. Critics applauded his use of steel reinforced concrete.
Here is one of the thick pillars:
Other photos from the plant:
Notice the thriving tree on the top-right.
Inside the bridge over E. Grand Boulevard
This room was filled with televisions.
The Management has had it with cups and bottles.
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The daring and the desperate alike have ventured into the train station, the Broderick Tower, the Packard Plant and myriad smaller wonders of neglect. It's become less and less novel to have a set of photographs from inside these places. Still, I am compelled to visit and document. Some have visited in search of shelter. Others to scavenge contents of value. Others to vandalize and destroy. Others to create artwork. I visit them to experience and document. I'm just another explorer, I know. My photographs capture just one day in the histories of their subjects.
The Packard Plant is 3.5 million square feet of buildings on the east side that have been largely abandoned for over 50 years. Much smaller businesses continued to use portions of the property until recently. The complex was considered the most modern automobile factory in the world when it was built in 1907. The company began as a luxury automaker in Warren, Ohio in 1899 and was drawn to Detroit shortly thereafter by robber baron James Joy. Albert Kahn, Detroit's most famous industrial architect, designed the plant. Critics applauded his use of steel reinforced concrete.Here is one of the thick pillars:
Other photos from the plant:
Notice the thriving tree on the top-right.
Inside the bridge over E. Grand Boulevard
This room was filled with televisions.
The Management has had it with cups and bottles.
Next Post
Previous Post
Labels: Abandoned Buildings, Detroit, History, Industry
posted by frequency13 at 6:45 PM
2 Comments:
That looks like a cool place to lurk around. Is it hard to get into? And that's for the post at my blog.
It's not very difficult to access. There was a security guard sitting in a car just off E. Grand Blvd., but the complex is so sprawling that the one guard couldn't nearly see all the access points.
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