PlacePromo: The Kent Moore Apartments, 847 Lothrop, Detroit, Michigan

Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Kent Moore Apartments, 847 Lothrop, Detroit, Michigan

A building was present at this site at the time of the 1976 Detroit Urban Conservation Project. The awning of the building at that time read "The Kent Moore."

The Bulletin of the Nurses' Alumnae Association of the University of Maryland from 1953, noted how Margaret A. Janovich from the Class of 1946 resided at the "Kent-Moore Apts." in Detroit.

In 1925 this block was covered primarily by two and three story detached residential properties with open yards to the rear. A few larger apartment buildings were on the block. By 1951, the John Lodge Expressway had been proposed which would eliminate several of the properties on the western end of the block. The February 1950 Sanborn Map showed 847 Lothrop located side by side with another earlier apartment block in a dumbbell shape. On the southeast corner of the block facing West Grand Boulevard and 3rd was the "Buckingham Hotel."

By 2002 the block had taken roughly its present form. None of the buildings from the 1950 and earlier 1925 maps appeared. As such, it can be reasonably estimated that the building at 847 Lothrop was demolished some time between 1976 and 1999. The complete elimination of buildings on this block paralleled population decline citywide from around 2 million people to 713,777 people in 2010.

General Motors Building showing previous buildings that were displ

When the General Motors Building was built two blocks to the east between 1919 and 1923, several townhouses and apartment buildings between two and about five stories were demolished. A similar process of removal was carried out on the block that The Kent Moore is located upon, though the next stage in development has yet to come. Instead, a parking lot stands witness to the many buildings and countless lives that once were tied to this particular place.

Anyone with more information on The Kent Moore is welcome to contact us.