Project Description
Goddard & Goddard Company, also known as “Go & Go Co,” was built in 1925 and was located at 12364 Burt Road near the corner of Capitol Avenue, on Detroit’s far west side. Goddard & Goddard Company was a tool and dye company, but most notably produced milling cutters. Goddard & Goddard Company was a very large, two-story building that was designed in an Art Deco architectural style. The façade of Goddard & Goddard Company was red-brick and featured stone accents.
Goddard & Goddard Company featured a span of seven brick-columns that lined the front façade of the building. Each of the brick-columns was crowned with a stone detail cap. The main entrance of Goddard & Goddard Company was located in between two of the tall, brick-columns and was centered on the front exterior of the building. The doorway of the main entrance was bordered in stone details, including a stone-block that was locate directly above the main entrance doorway. In the center of the stone-block, a sculpture of the “GO & GO CO” logo was one of the most prominent features of the building’s exterior details. Above the stone-block with the GO & GO CO. logo, a rectangular window appeared on the façade. The window had two smaller, brick-columns that separated each window pane. Above the rectangular window and below the cornice, another stone-block adorned the front façade of the building. This stone-block was long, rectangular, and spanned the width of the main entrance bordering. Etched into the stone-block, the words “GODDARD & GODDARD CO.” appeared and became another prominent exterior feature of the building. The remainder of the façade of Goddard & Goddard Company included two stories of horizontal windows that extended down each side of the building. In between the first and second-floor windows, were green, metallic-squares that contributed to the Art Deco design of the structure. The cornicing of Goddard & Goddard Company was made of stone and was mostly flat, except for above the main entrance and above the two corners of the building. At these points, the cornicing extended up to make way for the stone-blocks that were located directly below the cornicing. Only the stone-block above the main entrance featured any writing, as the stone-blocks on the corners of the building were just solid rectangular-designs. The other prominent exterior feature of Goddard & Goddard Company was the tall, brick-smokestack in the back of the building. From the top of the brick-smokestack and going down, white-tiles that spelled out “GO & GO CO” adorned each side of the smokestack.
The interior of Goddard & Goddard Company featured a beautiful lobby, administration offices, a warehouse, and the production floor area. Goddard & Goddard Company used the building for many years before moving out of Detroit. The building eventually was purchased by Borman’s Foods, a division of Farmer Jack. Borman’s Food’s used the building until 2009.
In 2009, Borman’s Foods left the building and it was boarded up.
As of 2015, the former Goddard & Goddard Company is still abandoned. The building has suffered from scrapping damage, fire damage, and vandalism. There are no current plans for the building.
