Lafayette Park, Detroit, Michigan, 1959 designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Image courtesy of the Joseph Messana Architectural Image Collection, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries.
Lafayette Park, Detroit, Michigan, June 2009. Image courtesy of Susan Sheppard.
In the post-World War II era, Detroit experienced a mass migration of residents to the suburbs. The older, deteriorating inner city housing developments emptied out and the city’s tax base was threatened. Detroit’s city government sought ways to keep additional residents from moving. One effort to stem the migration was the urban renewal project first known as the Gratiot Redevelopment Project, later Lafayette Park. The project began in 1950 after the demolition of the city’s worst slums, known as the Black Bottom community.
Workmen clear the rubble of the stately old Gotham Hotel at John R and Orchestra Place as urban renewal eats away at Black Bottom and Parardise Valley in the 1960s. Photograph from the collection of The Detrroit News Archives.
After a few years of no interest, a nonprofit corporation was formed to ensure the land was properly utilized. The contracting job was transferred to different groups but the land sat empty until 1956 when the Chicago-based firm of Herbert Greenwald and Samuel Katzin was given exclusive co-development rights. Greenwald brought in his associate Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a renowned architect, to design the project. Mies van der Rohe in turn brought in city planner Ludwig Hilberseimer, and landscape architect Alfred Caldwell to assist on the project. The development was based on a “superblock” plan that Mies van der Rohe and Hilberseimer created, which included a large park and walkways. The area was designed to be closed to vehicle traffic, with the exception of sunken parking lots and cul-de-sac road systems around the exterior.
Lafayette Park, Detroit, Michigan. SHPO National Register file photo
This design created an intimate and private environment for the residents of the 186 townhouse units. Lafayette Park also included high rise apartments, a shopping center and a public school. Mies van der Rohe constructed the Pavilion building and the Lafayette Towers for the development. The Pavilion and the Lafayette Towers are designed with skeletal frameworks and reflective glass exteriors typical of Mies van der Rohe. These high rise structures are still used as rental properties and housing. The buildings of Lafayette Park remain in good condition today and residents are extremely proud of their homes and the history of the project. This neighborhood has, in many ways, lived up to its potential with mixed-income families residing here. In a time where urban renewal projects are often rejected and criticized, Mies van der Rohe, Hilberseimer, and Caldwell created an oasis in the city of Detroit.
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