Detroit locals and history buffs - please clarify! (Cadillac, Shelby: appointed, apartments)

[Toronto416]

I'll try to find the source, because it was a really interesting story regarding the building of Detroit the city, and it's connection and comparison to Paris, France. Has anyone else heard this? I've never been to Paris but looking at some of the immediate maps of downtown I do sort of get a sense of a city modeled after a European city. Has anyone else noticed this?

My other question is for those 'in the know' about downtown Detroit. Do you know of any new apartments (just me, so I'm looking for a very small studio) as close to the center of downtown. I've toured the Fyfe Apartments online but they don't appear to be 'new'.

My last question: what's the best fitness center downtown Detroit has to offer? Does Detroit have a downtown YMCA (I read about the Boll YMCA but don't know if that's downtown).

Thanks in advance; can't wait to visit Detroit in a few months to run the 35th Detroit Marathon!

[zthatzmanz28]

Augustus Woodward--designed the city based on the Parisian model. At least the downtown area. I believe Wikipedia has the story..

[Coldjensens]

Detroit in its heyday was considered by many to be the most beautiful city in the United states. It was often referred to as the "Paris of the West." This was in the 1930s and possibly into the 1940s.

I cannot help much with apartments, but I know the Book Cadillac Hotel and the Fort Shelby Hotel both have cono units and maybe some apartments (or maybe you could rent a condo). The hotels are old and historic, but they were both completely renovated fairly recently, so they are essentially new inside.

[animatedmartian]

Yes Detroit has a YMCA downtown.



If you're talking about newly built apartment buildings, Downtown Detroit has none. The last apartment buildings to be built were the Riverfront Towers and the Millender Center in the 80s. Everything else is pretty much a renovation of old office buildings and hotels.

There's some newer apartment buildings in Midtown, but most of them are full already.

[Retroit]

Detroit's hub-and-spoke street design was patterned after Pierre L'Enfant's design (which was also used in Washington D.C.). Augustus Woodward, who spent time in D.C., chose the plan when he was appointed to rebuild Detroit after it burnt down in a major fire (1805). L'Enfant was from Paris and came to America during the Revolutionary War and served as a military engineer under George Washington. The United States was a bit infatuated with all things French (or perhaps all things non-British) at that time.