Lafayette Park, Detroit facts for kids

Mies van der Rohe Residential District, Lafayette Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
View of Lafayette Park from Windsor, Canada in 2007
Location in Michigan Show map of Michigan Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Roughly bounded by Lafayette Ave., Rivard, Antietam, and Orleans Sts., Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Area	46 acres (19 ha)
Built	1956
Architect	Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig Hilberseimer, et al.
Architectural style	International style
NRHP reference No.	96000809
Quick facts for kids Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 1, 1996
Designated NHLD	July 21, 2015

Lafayette Park is a special neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. It is known for having the largest group of homes designed by a famous architect named Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. This area is a great example of modern architecture.

In 2015, the northern part of Lafayette Park was named a National Historic Landmark District. This means it is a very important place in American history. Lafayette Park is also seen as a place where new ideas in building design were tested. It is one of the few city renewal areas in the United States that has stayed strong over time.

What is Urban Renewal?

Lafayette Park was created through a process called urban renewal. This means that older parts of a city are changed and rebuilt. After World War II, the government wanted to improve cities. They offered money to clear out old neighborhoods.

This process helped create new land for building. It also helped meet the goal of building different kinds of homes for people with various incomes.

The Story of Black Bottom

The area where Lafayette Park now stands was once called Black Bottom. This was a lively neighborhood in Detroit, especially for African-American families. It had many shops and businesses.

The name "Black Bottom" came from its rich, dark soil. Over time, many different groups of immigrants had lived there. When the city decided to rebuild, Black Bottom was chosen. This was partly because many people living there rented their homes, and the city wanted to increase tax money.

Starting in 1948, groups began to buy and tear down buildings. Many families had to move to other parts of the city. By 1967, a large area of 78 acres had been cleared.

Buildings and Design

Lafayette Park has two main sections, called "superblocks." These areas mix different types of homes, like tall apartment buildings and smaller townhouses. This design was popular after World War II.

Early Buildings in Lafayette Park

The first part of Lafayette Park was known as the Gratiot Redevelopment. Some of the important buildings in this section include:

• The Pavilion Apartments (designed by Mies van der Rohe, 1959)
• Mies Van der Rohe Townhouses (designed by Mies, 1959)
• Lafayette Towers (designed by Mies, 1963)
• Walter Chrysler Elementary School (1963)
• Towers Shopping Center (1963)

The second part, called the Lafayette Extension, is to the south. Some buildings here are:

• 1300 Lafayette East (designed by Gunnar Birkerts, 1964)
• Central Park Plaza Apartments (1963)
• Navarre Place Townhouses (1965 and 1969)

In 1963, all these different parts were officially named "Lafayette Park."

A long, green park area runs through the middle of Lafayette Park. It has different names along its path, like Lafayette Plaisance and Lafayette Central Park.

The Vision of Mies van der Rohe

In 1956, a developer named Herbert Greenwald decided to build in Lafayette Park. He wanted Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to be the main architect. Mies van der Rohe was a very famous architect and a professor. He brought in his friends, Ludwig Hilberseimer and Alfred Caldwell, to help plan the area and design the landscapes.

The original plan for the northern part of Lafayette Park included several tall apartment buildings and many townhouses.

The Pavilion Apartments

The first building constructed was the Pavilion Apartments. It is a 22-story building. It looks similar to other buildings Mies designed, with large windows. The steel columns of the building are covered in concrete for fire safety. The exposed "frame" you see is actually a decorative metal beam.

Mies Townhouses

Next, the Mies townhouses were built. There are 186 of these homes. They come in different designs, including one-story homes with courtyards and two-story homes.

These low-rise homes are built a few feet above the ground. This helps hide cars from view. They often have central parking lots for several buildings. The homes are made with a light steel frame, concrete floors, and glass walls at the front and back. They have flat roofs.

The townhouses were first rented out. Then, in the early 1960s, they became co-operatives, meaning residents owned a share of the property.

After Greenwald's Death

In 1959, Herbert Greenwald died in a plane crash. This was a big loss for his building projects. Another company, Habitat Companies, took over to finish Lafayette Park.

Lafayette Towers

The last project designed by Mies was Lafayette Towers (1961-1964). These are two tall towers connected by a central parking garage. This design was very practical and was even used again in another city.

The Shopping Center

The government wanted new neighborhoods to have a shopping center. So, Greenwald's partners built the shopping center in Lafayette Park. It was originally called "Towers Plaza."

The shopping center has changed its look over the years. It was designed differently from Mies's original idea for a shopping area.

Other Developments

Around the same time as Lafayette Towers, other homes were built in the northern part of Lafayette Park:

• Cherboneau North and South: These were built by a teachers' union. Cherboneau South has regular garden-style homes. Cherboneau North has garden-style homes with glass stairways.
• Chateaufort: This complex has 60 one-story townhomes. They are arranged around a U-shaped street. Each home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a basement.
• Regency Court: Now called Parc Lafayette, this area was seen as very modern. It has three-story buildings around a garage with a swimming pool on top.

Lafayette Extension Buildings

1300 Lafayette East

In 1960, a developer named Morton Scholnick hired Gunnar Birkerts to design a luxury apartment building. This building, 1300 Lafayette East, was the tallest concrete building in Detroit at the time. It has two parts that are offset, making it look thin.

This building has a modern style called "New Formal." It has a subtle roof detail and sits on a raised platform. This platform hides a two-story underground garage, with trees and a garden on top. You cannot see cars from the street, which was part of Birkerts's design idea.

Navarre Place

After 1300 Lafayette East, John Macsai designed Navarre Place. These homes are simpler versions of Birkerts's original plan. They are called single-family homes. Macsai believed that privacy was very important in multi-family housing.

Building Navarre Place stopped in 1967 because of problems in Detroit. Construction started again in 1968 and 1969. Some parts of the original plan, like a twin tower to 1300 Lafayette East, were never built.

Other Original Developments

• Rochdale Court: This was a place for senior citizens. It was torn down in 2002. A new complex called DuCharme Place was built there in 2015-2016.
• Central Park Plaza Apartments: These were A-frame apartments with one or two bedrooms. Several buildings were built around a swimming pool.
• Jean Rivard Apartments: These are three-story apartment buildings. Most are one-story apartments, but some have two-story loft units.

Tall Buildings in Lafayette Park

Lafayette Park has 186 one and two-story townhouses. It also includes several tall apartment buildings:

Education and Library

Children in Lafayette Park go to Detroit Public Schools. They attend Chrysler Elementary School, Bunche K-8 for middle school, and Martin Luther King High School.

The Detroit Public Library has a branch called Elmwood Park Branch Library. It opened in 1975 inside a shopping plaza. Residents wanted a library, so it was included in the plaza. It is still the only library branch in a shopping plaza in Detroit.

Gallery

• 

  Lafayette Park Detroit includes shopping

• 

  1300 Lafayette East Cooperative in the foreground, Lafayette Pavilion Apartments in the background

• 

  Lafayette Park's apartment buildings

• 

  1300 Lafayette East Cooperative

• 

  1300 Lafayette East

• 

  Lafayette Towers Apartments East

• 

  Lafayette Towers Apartments West

Images for kids

• 

  Lafayette Towers, with Lafayette Park in the foreground

See also

In Spanish: Lafayette Park para niños