Lafayette Park is an internationally renowned district of residential architecture, both historic and modern. It is located roughly half-way between downtown and Chene Park and is close to Belle Isle and the MacArthur Bridge. There is also easy access to I-375, Gratiot Avenue, and Jefferson Avenue.
It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006 and is a racially diverse, economically stable, garden-like enclave in the middle of Detroit.
The first urban-renewal project in the United States, it boasts 26 buildings by Mies Van der Rohe, which are his only works in Michigan and the largest collection of his buildings in one place the world over. The aesthetic is consistent, minimalist steel and glass, but the housing options are diverse.
Lafayette Park Walkway
When Lafayette Park was created, design was everything. City streets were not allowed to pass through, which allowed the creation of a large central park and a network of walking paths. The eight separate residential developments in the district were done in a variety of styles, from modernist, high-rise towers to one-story, flat-roofed town houses. It covers 78 acres in all.
Residents Keira Alexandra and Toby Barlow are two of Lafayette Park’s (and downtown Detroit’s) most fervent supporters. “San Francisco doesn’t need us,” Alexandra, a graphic designer, told Dwell magazine, “but Detroit does.” Barlow, who is the executive creative director for the Ford account at JWT and author of the epic poem Sharp Teeth, says, “Detroit is a blank canvas waiting for some more visionaries like Mies.”
One of the country’s great models of urban planning, Lafayette Park offers a sense of place that is both modern and historical, urban yet green and spacious.
Shopping and Dining
Lafayette Park includes a small shopping center in its district, which has begun a new renaissance and now contains a full-service grocery store. You can find this on Lafayette Blvd. Thanks to the completion of the Dequindre Cut on its border, Eastern Market’s Saturday groceries, restaurants, and bars are all just a short walk away. Residents are also a very short walk away from Downtown, offering a wide variety of shopping and dining options.
Saturdays at Eastern Market
Each are jammed with as many as 40,000 people who come to enjoy one of the most authentic urban adventures in the United States. This local food district has more than 250 independent vendors and merchants processing, wholesaling, and retailing food. Its open-air stalls offer great selections of fruits, veggies, fresh-cut flowers, homemade jams, maple syrups, locally produced specialty food products, pasture and/or grass-fed meat and even an occasional goose or rabbit. At the heart of Eastern Market is a six-block public market that has been feeding Detroit since 1891.
The Dequindre Cut Greenway officially opened to the public in May of 2009. This 1.35-mile greenway is a pedestrian link between the Riverfront, Eastern Market and many of the residential neighborhoods in between. The greenway features a 20-foot-wide paved pathway, which includes separate lanes for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
Formerly a Grand Trunk Railroad line, the Dequindre Cut is a below-street level path that runs parallel to St. Aubin Street, between Mack Avenue and Woodbridge Street just north of the Riverfront. Check out the urban artwork and graffiti.
Development and Sustainability
Lafayette Park has been called an urban renewal success story. The developments continue in and around Lafayette Park: the $3 million renovation to the shopping center, the Dequindre Cut and the urban renewal project, originally called the Gratiot Park Development.
The Lafayette Foods grocery store opened in the space formerly occupied by another grocery store, but promises on an Internet forum that “this store won’t let the community down.” It’s a convenient location — just east of downtown, in the Lafayette Park neighborhood, minutes from 375 and Jefferson, and near many of the near east side neighborhoods
Culture and Entertainment
Lafayette Park is, in fact, a park. There is likely more green space in Lafayette Park than in any other Detroit neighborhood. The Parkway connected by Lafayette Blvd. provides a great fitness course and dog walking area. The design was always there to keep this such a green space. Landscape architect Alfred Cauldwell was brought in to assist Mies van der Rohe and designed a tri-level green canopy: dogwood, magnolia, lilacs, and hawthorne bushes line the walkways.
The recent addition of the Dequindre Cut Greenway only adds to this original greenspace. Through the greenway, Lafayette is just a short bike ride to the International RiverWalk and Belle Isle, Detroit’s equivalent to New York’s Central Park.
It’s also a short bike ride to the city’s cultural center, offering music venues, grand theaters, art galleries and more.
Lafayette Park is also near the architecturally significant St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and the Eastern Market Historic District
Living
Lafayette Park is home to several thousand residents. There are three high rise apartment buildings: Lafayette Pavilion, Lafayette Towers, and 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative, the first two designed by van der Rohe, and the third by Gunnar Birkets. There are also ground level condominiums and apartments.
1300 Lafayette East Cooperative
The 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative was designed by Gunnar Birkerts and built in 1961. It is among the most important architectural landmarks in Detroit. It features a luxurious marble lobby and, reminiscent of an era of elegance, you are welcomed by a friendly, professional door attendant. There are 286 spacious residences with dramatic window views of the city and Detroit River. Select from studios, one, two, three, and four bedroom residences. Private parking is below in a convenient two-story underground garage. 1300 is a complete community with grand common areas, community rooms and an in-building store and deli.
Originally designed as an apartment building, it has housed a number of notable residents, including Diana Ross.
Lafayette Park Pavilion Apartments
The Lafayette Pavilion Apartments are located at 1 Lafayette Plaisance, near Gratiot Avenue and I-375 and is also close to Chene Park. The apartment building has 22 floors and was designed in the international architectural style.
Lafayette Towers
Lafayette Towers is a 22-story high rise conveniently located in downtown Detroit. It’s within walking distance of Greektown, the Renaissance Center and the downtown business district.
The Leland Lofts are unique and in the historic 1917 Leland School. The building was the first school built expressly for handicapped kids and has an elevator and a ramp to the third floor in 1917. The $7 million dollar renovation includes restoring many of these unique, unusual features inside and out. The lofts are custom built and are 1150 to 2110 sq feet.
Leland Lofts
