Detroit, Part 1

When I recently came across some good info on potential bandos to hit in the Motor City, I picked a balmy weekend and made the trek out to this mecca of American urbex. It had been some years since my last visit, and I was very excited to see how the city had changed and what I would be able to find. I would not be disappointed.

I’ve always been fond of this city and have long rooted for it to regain some of its lost glory. It is, of course, hard to get a real look at a city when most of your time there is spent in abandoned buildings, but Detroit does look like it is getting better. Although this seems to be mostly true of its downtown, which strikes me as pretty vibrant and no longer has trees growing on the roofs of old skyscrapers that I recall seeing on my first visit here fifteen years ago. The outlying neighborhoods, however, look just as rundown as they’ve been for a while now. If anyone reading this is from Detroit, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments on your city’s progress!

With travel time there and back, I essentially had one very full day of shooting in town. I’m pretty happy that I got enough from that single day to break out into two posts. I struck out at my first spot, but got into the next three, two of which were just spectacular. Today, I’ll concentrate on one particular church and parochial school on the city’s north side. We’ll start in the rectory and school, which, though not as spectacular as the church building itself, each offered some interesting details. If you were wondering just how long this place has been abandoned, the first shot offers a clue:

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Next, a very ruined hallway shot, followed by the view from the top story auditorium

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My favorite shot from the school was this classroom being sliced by the diagonal light coming in from the right.

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The rectory was in very bad shape, but I did like this basement kitchen tinted green from the light filtering through the foliage choking its windows. And, of course, the little pioneer sapling growing out of the linoleum.

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As for the church itself, maybe it was the early morning light amplifying all the color and texture of the interior, but I found it absolutely stunning. I will let these few photos do the rest of the talking for me.

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Thanks for reading!
Next: more Detroit.