Fort Shelby Hotel
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The Fort Shelby Hotel rose and fell with the city of Detroit - and it has risen again. With Detroit a booming town for both industry and tourism, the Shelby was erected to meet the demand. When the city's fortunes fell, it closed. Decades later, the hotel reopened, instilling hope that another Detroit turnaround is around the corner.
The Shelby went up in two phases. The first was in 1916, when a 10-story building went up at Lafayette Boulevard and First Street, near the city's Masonic Temple. The building was the only structure in Detroit done by Chicago architects Schmidt, Garden and Martin. As the city kept growing, the hotel grew with it, adding a 21-story tower designed by renowned architect Albert Kahn.
In 1951 the hotel was bought by the Albert Pick Hotels Co. and renamed the Pick Fort Shelby.
The hotel closed in 1974 and sat empty, scrapped and vandalized for decades, despite joining the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
On June 26, 2007, it was announced that the building would be renovated and reopened as a Doubletree Guest Suites hotel. The $90-million renovation was one of the largest such projects in the city's history and was taking place as another historic, abandoned downtown hotel, the Book-Cadillac, also was being brought back to life. The reborn Shelby has 203 suites, and the tower was turned into 56 apartments. While most of the hotel was gutted because of decades of neglect and decay, much of the hotel's original marble and the plasterwork in the Crystal Ballroom were saved.
The hotel reopened Dec. 15, 2008, as the Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby/Detroit Downtown.
More to come on this building of Detroit.
