Details
Rust Belt - Economic Crisis
Detroit, Michigan
USA
March 24, 2009
The Lee Plaza building that was designed by Charles Noble and constructed in 1929, it rises to 15 floors and is an excellent example of Art Deco architecture of the 1920s. Once one of the most luxurious residential hotels in Detroit, Lee Plaza closed in the 1990s. During its years of vacancy, much of the artwork, internal wiring, fixtures and valuable material has been removed illegally by scavengers. It is a registered historic site by the state of Michigan and was added to the United States National Register of Historic Sites on November 5, 1981.
These modern-day ruins were created by wave after wave of lay-offs and corporate collapses of the Detroit auto industry.
Known as the world's automotive center Detroit was once the home of 1.85 million people in the 1950's. It now houses 917,000 and for this reason it is said that there are now 80,000 abandoned buildings within the city.
