Pieces of Detroit

They say buildings in New York are replaced every 50 years or so with something bigger and better. The city is in a constant state of reconstruction, with buildings giving way to new buildings. More open space, more this, less of that. When the space is finite, things end up having to be rearranged every now and again.

The other day, while perusing a salvage store in Chelsea, the owner noticed my Detroit shirt and asked if we were from there. We struck up a conversation and turns out he has cornice pieces from the old Hudson building - a majestic department store that occupied an entire city block before it was summarily demolished to make way to a much smaller (and uglier) building. He led us outside to the fire escape and pointed to ornate cornices that sat on top o the wall: pieces of the defunct Hudson Department Store (the store, incidentally, doesn't exist anymore either. It became Marshall Fields and is currently owned my Macy's).

So here you have it: a piece of Detroit's rich architectural history for sale in Manhattan.