What makes detroit beautiful

For all the caveats about car ownership, Detroit has been investing more in its infrastructure and public spaces. The transit situation is improving.

Bus ridership is up thanks to better on-time performance, more convenient lines, and a unified payment system. More bike lanes are added to the roads every year. Streetscaping projects are underway across the city to make roads more walkable and bikeable. The Joe Louis Greenway, a mile non-motorized loop, is in development. A Detroit bike-share program has been steadily expanding since it launched in While most new developments are larger mixed-use structures , single-family homes are by far the most common housing type here.

And we look them in the eye while doing it. For people used to moving around anonymously, this can be jarring. Detroiters also hold the door open, make small talk, invite you over for a barbecue, and introduce you to their whole family.

You can easily get by in transient towns like New York or Washington, D. Not so in Detroit. Most things that define the state of the city today—its geography, demographics, and culture—can be traced back to racist policies and trends, like housing and job discrimination, demolition of vibrant black neighborhoods for freeways, and white flight.

Detroit is about 80 percent African American and has been a majority black city for decades. Murals featuring portraits of black icons, like Coleman A. The Charles H. The Heidelberg Project and Dabls African Bead Museum , designed by black artists with black themes, are two gorgeous and profound public art installations. Seminal punk bands the Stooges and MC5 launched their careers in the area.

Techno started in Detroit. Yeah, we got that too—ever heard of Eminem or Danny Brown? Ready to motor over to Motor City?

PODS is ready and here to help you with everything, with ideas on how to store stuff while moving to Detroit and tips for packing for a long-distance move. Source: cheapoldhouses via Instagram.

Brush Park neighborhood in Midtown. Sherwood Forest neighborhood Source: lucasliska via Instagram. Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood Source: amyrocksrealestate via Instagram. Source: Detroit Action via Facebook. Source: Motown Museum via Facebook. Source: maxximus91 via Instagram. Source: Eastern Market Partnership via Facebook. Source: Mo Pop Festival via Facebook.

Source: mattandmos via Instagram. Source: Whockman via Pixabay. Source: The Heidelberg Project via Facebook. Share Email. Tweet Email. Pin Email. Share Article Share Email. Latest Posts. Had the Fisher Theatre not been renovated , removing many of the ornate elements, it would have made this list as well. While not as opulent as its neighbor across West Grand, the former General Motors Building, also designed by Albert Kahn, has a beautiful interior as well.

The long barrel ceiling in the arcade with panels of various designs and materials is especially impressive. Designed by renowned midcentury modern architect Minoru Yamasaki, the pyramidical skylights, windows that extend the length of the two stories, and graceful overhangs, create an atrium with a wonderfully inviting atmosphere. Designed by renowned American architect Cass Gilbert, the Main Branch of the Detroit Public Library has a wonderful interior with marble walls, grand frescoes, and ornate ceiling panels.

The Wayne State University—owned building in Midtown designed by Albert Kahn gets included on this list for its lobby alone, which has a jaw-dropping barrel ceiling, marble floors and walls, gold clad elevators, and wonderful Art Deco fixtures.

Howard Crane—designed theater, or the numerous galleries. But with its sumptuous wood paneling and stained-glass windows, this wildly opulent Romanesque Revival mansion is too beautiful to ignore. There are too many stunning features, both inside and out, of this Neo-Gothic masterpiece designed by George D. But each of the theaters, rooms, and lobbies, with its various nods to world cultures Egyptian, Byzantine, Italian , is a site to behold.

The exterior of Orchestra Hall is rather plain—the interior, however, is magnificent. The shockingly opulent theater designed by C. Howard Crane is arguably one of the most beautiful venues in the world. It contains an eclectic and ornate mix of decorations in Egyptian, Far Eastern and Indian styles.

Designed by Daniel H. Which is fortunate, since it has arguably the most impressive atrium in the city—four stories tall, with a skylight, and covered in decorative terra cotta and marble. The impressive lobby has an ornate ceiling with decorate panels and wood-paneled walls, and the main dining hall is just as lovely with its pained coffered ceiling. The most recently constructed building on this list is probably its most controversial entry.

Opened in and designed by Wirt C. But the jaw-dropping lobby and banking hall—with its three-story, Aztec-themed design made of Rookwood Pottery and Pewabic Tile, metal screen with Tiffany-clock inlay, and Michigan commerce mural—make it arguably the most beautiful interior in the city.