Such a shame the Packard factory is left to this. Picture is a couple years old but the way Detroit is going it's likely still in this condition. My dad worked there prior to WWII but had to get a job closer to home due to gas rationing.
Are those trees growing THROUGH some of the buildings? Or are most of them just on the roof?
I know there are a lot of places out in the midwest where big industrial places are abandoned and it looks really creepy. Google "urban decay" it's just crazy we can have real ghost towns that aren't even 75 years old.
Here are some photos we took at the Packard plant in 2010 while passing through on the way to Hershey. The mansion-style building in one photo may have been executive offices.
I liberated a couple of souvenirs from an outbuilding — a brick (doorstop) marked "Clippert" and a chunk of heavy window screen that has since had bits and pieces used around the shop for various things.
A wedding party was rolling by in a chartered but and stopped to use our heap as a photo prop.
Maybe it's not too late for a TARP government bailout. It looks like there's still enough functioning equipment there to meet public demand for 100 years worth of electric cars. ;)
— a brick (doorstop) marked "Clippert"
Your Clippert brick was made in Taylor, MI by the Clippert Brick Works. They used to be on Monroe Blvd. just North of Ecorse Road. They stopped making bricks about the mid-1970's. Most all of the homes in my neighborhood were built using Clippert bricks as they were local.
Looks like someone needs to have a fundraising program with a crane and a wrecking ball, say $100 for 30 minutes of fun.
Don't tear it down; the Packard club needs to do what the T guys did with Piquette. Perhaps part of it can be saved for a Packard museum, etc.
The United States has begun the decline like ancient Egypt and Greece. Soon our cities will become ruins. We also find things like that in central America and on Easter Island.
The world goes on, but things change!
Norm
I think there's a video on Youtube of some jerks pushing a truck off the third or fourth floor of the plant. interesting
Norman,
Don't call chicken little out yet. Sure we have our problems but its still the best place in the world to live. If one doesn't think so, he should emigrate.
Ted
Exactly why we have, Ted. Unfortunately the US in the shitter and there's no stopping the decline. And once the US dollar is no longer the world currency US citizens won't have the resources to leave.
Considering the highly successful VW started life in a bombed out factory with no roof i think you could start making cars there again with some work.
You are welcome, I am still glad I am here. Let us know when you have the next revolution. Just don't cash your social security checks, or invest in US stocks or order any Model T parts from US vendors.
There would not be money to fix something so huge. They need to tear down most of it and make a smaller, best part into a Packard museum. I've heard there is not even money to tear it down though and that it is located in a very bad area. Highland park is crumbling because what's left of it is also very large and expensive to fix. I've been inside Highland Park and have a piece of it sitting on my desk (I made sure I did not damage the building). Piquet got saved because it's an affordable size building and thankfully, it is entirely original right down to the interior paint.
"Don't tear it down; the Packard club needs to do what the T guys did with Piquette. Perhaps part of it can be saved for a Packard museum, etc."
Check out the Packard Motor Car Foundation. The Foundation was started to preserve and protect a portion of the original Packard proving grounds. Been there many times.
http://www.packardmotorfdn.org/
Albert Kahn designed Packard #10 building in 1905, and its steel frame construction and natural lighting was the basis for Highland Park.
Per "10 Buildings that Changed America" on PBS. #5 is the Highland Park Ford plant.
That's cool, Peter; thanks. Now on to the plant proper.
There is a Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio birthplace of the Packard Automobile. A nice museum with Packard artifacts and cars. Also a very large Packard motor used in PT Boats during WWII.
The Michigan Central Railroad Station is in the same pickle. Built in 1913 for 15 million dollars, estimates of it's restoration are as high as 180 million dollars.
My guess is that it will stay for awhile, since Detroit is broke and can't afford to demolish.
Maybe it will be saved......
http://www.mlive.com/business/detroit/index.ssf/2013/07/developers_reportedly_in _purch.html#incart_river_default
Developers reportedly in purchase talks for Detroit's long-abandoned Packard Plant
DETROIT, MI - The long-abandoned former Packard Automotive Plant, one of the largest empty buildings in the country, is reportedly close to being saved from the county foreclosure auction block.
The Detroit News reports an Illinois developer is speaking with Wayne County officials about purchasing the 40-acre property for $974,000, the amount owed in unpaid taxes.
From The News:
“Bill Hults, of Evanston, Ill., told The Detroit News he’s leading a group of investors who want to rehabilitate the crumbling 3.5-million-square-foot plant and build housing nearby. To complete the transformation, Hults has retained the legendary architectural firm that built the complex in 1903, Albert Kahn Associates.”
Hults told The News his team of investors want to salvage as many of the 47 buildings on the property as possible. Physical work, such as adding barriers to the site, could begin within a week.
The project could reportedly cost at least $350 million and span 15 years from beginning to completion.
Vacant and in disrepair for about two decades, the former automotive factory on Detroit’s east side had been headed for county foreclosure auction this fall, Wayne County Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski confirmed in May.
The property would have a beginning bid of about $974,000 (the amount of taxes owed) for its 43 parcels.
The Packard Plant has been an iconic part of Detroit’s “ruin porn," in which tourists and others gawk at and take photos of the city's abandoned and blighted buildings.
It was designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1903.
The Packard Motor Car Company manufactured luxury vehicles there until 1958. Other businesses had been using the property of storage until the 1990s, when it was left completely vacant. From there, scrappers moved in and gutted what they could, while graffiti artists and others have since used the property as an urban canvas and playground.
The former Packard Plant property was foreclosed on in March. Its most-recent owner is listed as a Warren-based business called Bioresource.