I am so happy I started this blog for the simple fact that I feel like I have somewhere to go to vent and lose myself without the judgement of people I know. I am having way too many feelings this morning about what is going on in my life so I really just need to sit here and be lost with you all for a few moments.
The seventeen story structure was constructed in the late 1920s. It was Ralph T. Lee’s crowning jewel of his real estate empire he built from scratch. It was designed by Charles Noble who was a very prominent architect at that time. Lee wanted the apartment building to look like something out of New York. And trust me when I tell you that it does. It is absolutely huge. You can see it when your driving at least a mile away. The roof was originally made of Spanish tile, but that was later replaced with a green copper roof. This was sadly taken by scrappers many years ago. It was the tallest building of its time so when the sunset there would be a very bright light on the roof that could be seen for miles. Picture a Great Gatsby style thing if you get what I am saying; the light was a sign of extreme wealth.
And then it all went to hell. Lee lost everything and became default on the building. He actually ended up dying eight years before the whole dispute was even settled. It ended up being turned into a hotel which would barely stay afloat until a developer bought it in the 1960s, fixed it up, and sold it to the city. It then became low-income housing for senior citizens. This was the last attempt to revive it. It was finally closed in 1997. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 5, 1981. It will most likely never be open again due to the severe vandalism that has happened.
Doing the research on this one was very interesting and much of it I didn’t know. That’s why this is so awesome. I hope you enjoy the pictures and I hope you all have a great weekend.
*UPDATE 10/18/17*
So I completely changed the photos that go with this blog as the ones that were originally on here were complete bullshit, amateur stuff. Also, the Lee Plaza still looks like this (from the outside at least). I haven’t been in this one in a few years because there have been talks about it being restored. That owner has completely back tracked his plan and it is now slated to be sold to the City of Detroit to be a redevelopment project. We will see what ends up happening. Enjoy the updated photos xoxo
Alice in Detroit 