The Lafayette Building was built in 1923 on a triangular hunk of land bounded by Lafayette Boulevard, Michigan Avenue and Shelby Street, in downtown Detroit. The building was, therefore, built in the same shape: a triangle or V-shape. ...
The Lafayette Building was a 14-story tower that was designed by noted-Detroit architect C. Howard Crane. The 234,000-square-foot building was constructed out of brick, terra-cotta and limestone in neo-classical architectural style. Once one of Detroit’s premier office buildings, it was said to have cost around $3 million to build in 1923. That would be about $37 Million in today’s economy!
The Lafayette Building had only a few tenants left when it announced that it would closing it’s doors in 1996. The Lafayette Building closed the historical structure for good in 1997. It remained abandoned for several years, eventually becoming neglected and an eye-sore. When huge concrete chunks of the Lafayette Building began to fall to the streets and sidewalks below, the City of Detroit was “left with no choice” but to demolish the beautiful Lafayette Building.
In 2009, the Lafayette Building was demolished.
As of 2015, a “green” garden has been planted on the grounds of the former Lafayette Building.
