anyone else have this impression on downtown detroit? (Wayne, Cadillac: movies, living in)

[sarorafire10]

To start this post, i have visited Detroit numerous times( because my mother is from there and i still have family, cousins, etc that still live there) most of my family is in macomb county part of metro Detroit, specially St Claire shores and romeo, Michigan. every time i visit, i like to go to downtown Detroit because im into urban and downtown culture. so......kill me for saying this but,.... i always thought downtown Detroit looked kind of like a Gotham city look. i every time i visit there, i literally picture batman on a old 1920's-40's building in downtown. also i noticed there is a lot of buildings with gargoyles on the old high-rise buildings. it makes it look Gothic and menacing like Gotham city. the fisher building, the Penobscot building( if i'm spelling in correctly) all remind me of Gotham city.

I promise i'm not trying to troll at all, this is how i sincerely perceive how downtown looks. don't know if im crazy for viewing it like this, but does anyone else see this? also if i'm making mistakes on my impressions of downtown, please feel free to correct me.

[jaynarie]

Gargoyles? Your eyes are playing tricks on you.
Both the Penobscot and Fisher buildings are Art Deco and neither have gargoyles. The Penobscot has some Aztec-looking people on the outside: The Fisher has some eagles in places:
But no gargoyles.

Detroit does have quite a bit of Art Deco, but very little Gothic/Neo-Gothic architecture. The Metropolitan Building is probably the most ornate Neo-Gothic building (off the top of my head at least). Cadillac Tower is the only 'skyscraper' that is neo-gothic.

I guess Batman vs. Superman did a good job selling Detroit as Gotham City....

[sarorafire10]

[quote=jaynarie;45921568]Gargoyles? Your eyes are playing tricks on you.
Both the Penobscot and Fisher buildings are Art Deco and neither have gargoyles. The Penobscot has some Aztec-looking people on the outside: The Fisher has some eagles in places:
But no gargoyles.

Detroit does have quite a bit of Art Deco, but very little Gothic/Neo-Gothic architecture. The Metropolitan Building is probably the most ornate Neo-Gothic building (off the top of my head at least). Cadillac Tower is the only 'skyscraper' that is neo-gothic.

I guess Batman vs. Superman did a good job selling Detroit as Gotham City....[/QUOTE]

LOL, haha i guess so also, i didn't mean to specifically say those specific buildings had gargoyles on them, but if i remember correctly, i thought i recalled seeing some buildings( not sure which names) had gargoyles on them. i could be wrong though.

[keraT]

LOL edge of midtown does give that feeling that something will fly out from behind those empty abandoned building

[usroute10]

Detroit has the third largest collection of pre-World War II skyscrapers, only Chicago and New York have more.

A lot of buildings originally had gargoyles, however, they were removed in the 1950's and 1960's for fear that they would fall off the buildings.

There is one smaller building downtown that still has its gargoyles. It is here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3328...8i6656!6m1!1e1

(see the first floor)

[Coldjensens]

The Old Wayne County Building has some prominent statues on top, maybe that is what the OP was thinking of. No gargoyles, but it has a sort of Gotham look to it. Also, a lot of the buildings are clad n dark stone or brick so it can give it kind of a brooding atmosphere at night, like they were trying to achieve with Gotham. Much of Detroit is far more open however.

[Fubarbundy]

Not sure why the exterior ornamentation on the Buhl, Griswold (Albert), or Guardian Building are of that Aztec or Native American influence... must have been a fad back then? Yeah, not gothic though, much more deco or maybe moderne...

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Detroit is Art Deco heaven.

[drro]

The looks and atmosphere in the tv series Gotham and in the Batman movies always made me believe Gotham city is based on Detroit. But gargoyles? I always assumed that was something fictional from the original ghostbusters movie.

[Bimmerfanboy]

I feel the same. Personally I get an overwhelming feeling and sense of dread as I head toward Detroit. That doesn't mean I don't want the city to succeed or that I have no desire to head down there, but it does kind of put a damper on things. Living in the suburbs, it's quite amazing how it feels like an entirely different world out here. You'd have no idea you're in a metropolis whose city center that looks like that.