J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition

{{Infobox building

| name = J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition

| image = JLHudsonsPostcard.jpg

| caption = Postcard c. 1951

| location = 1206 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan

| coordinates = {{coord|42.3337|-83.0480|region:US-MI|display=inline,title}}

| status = Demolished

| start_date = 1911

| completion_date = 1946

| opening = 1911

| closing_date = January 17, 1983 to October 1986

| demolished_date = October 1997 to October 24, 1998

| building_type = Retail, Office space

| antenna_spire = {{convert|520|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| roof = {{convert|439|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| top_floor =

| floor_count = 29

| elevator_count =

| cost =

| floor_area = {{convert|2,200,000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}}

| architect = Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls

| structural_engineer=

| main_contractor =

| developer =

| owner =

| management =

| references =

}}

The J. L. Hudson Building ("Hudson's") was a department store located at 1206 Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was constructed beginning in 1911, with additions throughout the years, before being "completed" in 1946, and named after the company's founder, Joseph Lowthian Hudson. Hudson's first building on the site opened in 1891 but was demolished in 1923 for a new structure.{{cite web| title=Hudson's Department Store| url=https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/hudsons-department-store| first=Dan| last=Austin| website=Historic Detroit| access-date=April 19, 2022}} It was the flagship store for the Hudson's chain. The building was demolished in a controlled demolition on October 24, 1998, and at the time it was the tallest building ever imploded.{{cite news| title=Detroit's Hudson Building imploded 20 years ago today| url=https://www.metrotimes.com/news/detroits-hudson-building-imploded-20-years-ago-today-16922495| first=Jerilyn| last=Jordan| date=October 24, 2018| newspaper=Metro Times| access-date=2025-02-23}}

The structure

Designed by Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls, Hudson's consisted of approximately 33 levels: five basements, main floor, mezzanine, 2nd through 15th floors, 15 1/2 floor, 16th through 21st floors, 21 1/2 floor, and 22nd through 25th floors. Only the upper two basements through the 12th floor covered the entire footprint of the structure. A tower rose over 400 feet above the Farmer Street side. On all four sides, porcelain-covered copper letters spelled "HUDSON'S" in red neon.{{cite news| title=Hudson's Sign Comes Down| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103794139/detroit-free-press/| first=Patricia| last=Beck| date=January 26, 1990| newspaper=Detroit Free Press| page=B1| access-date=June 15, 2022}}

File:HudsonWindow.jpg

Hudson's boasted about 2.2 million sq. ft.{{cite web| title=J.L. Hudson's| url=http://www.homrichinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/J.L.-Hudsons-Detroit-MI1.pdf| website=Homrich Inc.| accessdate=2014-03-24| archive-date=2014-03-24| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324184331/http://www.homrichinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/J.L.-Hudsons-Detroit-MI1.pdf| url-status=dead}} of retail and office space, included several restaurants and was built in the Chicago School architectural style. The facade was red brick above the second floor. Below that, it consisted of polished pink granite panels. Terra-cotta cornices and rosettes were extensively employed, along with ornamental ironwork. "JLH"-emblazoned ovals decorated frosted windows on the mezzanine and 3rd through 5th floors.

The building measured {{convert|439|ft|m}} tall from its second basement to the top of the penthouse tower. It was also topped by a {{convert|110|ft|m}} high flagpole.

The store closed January 17, 1983 (at the nadir of downtown Detroit's decline).

After closure, Hudson's maintained its headquarters staff of about 1,100 in the downtown store. In May 1984, The J. L. Hudson Co. formally merged into the Department Store Division of the Dayton Hudson Corp., although Hudson's stores continued to carry the Hudson's name. All executive and buying positions transferred to Minneapolis, and other staff moved to space at the Northland Center store in Southfield. The last corporate department in the downtown Detroit building, credit operations, moved in October 1986. Dayton Hudson sold the building in December 1989.

Hudson's was demolished by Controlled Demolition, Inc. at 5:47 p.m. ET on October 24, 1998. 20,000 people watched as the building was imploded — turning it into a {{convert|60|ft|m|adj=on}} tall pile of debris. The demolition shattered windows on many then-still-abandoned retail buildings across Woodward Avenue, created a large debris and dust cloud that shrouded many parts of downtown Detroit as far south as Jefferson Avenue in dust (including thousands of people and vehicles) and accidentally damaged a section of the elevated Detroit People Mover. Many people watched the demolition from Hart Plaza at the foot of Woodward Avenue and Dieppe Gardens in Windsor.

The city constructed a 955-space, four-level underground parking garage at the site using parts of the basement of the demolished tower in 2001.{{cite news| title=Hudson's Detroit Contest Brings Redevelopment Ideas For Historic Downtown Site| last=Abbey-Lambertz| first=Kate| journal=Huffington Post| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/hudsons-detroit-site-development-contest_n_3420886.html| date=12 June 2013| accessdate=2014-03-24}}{{cite web| title=Detroit Parking Garages| url=http://park-rite.com/Detroit-Parking-Garages.html| website=Park Rite| accessdate=20 August 2014| archive-date=21 August 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821050348/http://park-rite.com/Detroit-Parking-Garages.html| url-status=dead}}

Future

In November 2013, Bedrock Detroit, who would be granted development rights of the two-acre city-owned site, hired New York-based SHoP Architects and Detroit-based Hamilton Anderson Associates to lead the design process of redevelopment on the site.{{cite news| last=Muller| first=David| title=New York-based SHoP Architects selected to design development at former Hudson's site in downtown Detroit| url=http://www.mlive.com/business/detroit/index.ssf/2013/11/new_york-based_shop_architects.html| accessdate=2014-03-24| newspaper=MLive.com| date=25 November 2013}} Bedrock broke ground on the development on December 14, 2017; the plans include a tower of 49 stories and {{convert|685|ft|m}} and a mid-rise building of 14 stories.{{cite news| title=Dan Gilbert's downtown Detroit skyscraper expected to be even taller| url=https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2018/10/05/dan-gilbert-hudson-tower-height/1533123002/| date=October 5, 2018| first=Meira| last=Gebel| newspaper=Detroit Free Press| accessdate=October 16, 2018}} The project is expected to open in 2024.{{cite news| last1=Gallagher| first1=John| title=Here's what to expect from the construction on Detroit's Hudson's site| url=https://www.freep.com/story/money/2017/12/14/heres-what-expect-construction-detroits-hudsons-site/951627001/| accessdate=14 April 2018| newspaper=Detroit Free Press| date=14 December 2017}}

Records

Tallest department store / retail building in the world.
Second largest department store building in the United States, exceeded by Macy's Herald Square in New York City.
Second tallest building to have a controlled implosion, tallest until the unfinished Meena Plaza I in Abu Dhabi was imploded in 2020.{{cite web| title=Meena Plaza I| website=Emporis| url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/1465010/meena-plaza-i-abu-dhabi-united-arab-emirates| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512084704/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/1465010/meena-plaza-i-abu-dhabi-united-arab-emirates| url-status=usurped| archive-date=May 12, 2021| access-date=2020-11-27}}
Second largest building to have a controlled implosion, after the Sears Merchandise Center in Philadelphia, which was imploded in 1994.

References

External links

[https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=1206+Woodward+Avenue,+Detroit,+MI&sll=42.33164,-83.04778&sspn=0.662937,1.086273&ie=UTF8&ll=42.333748,-83.047961&spn=0.00259,0.004243&t=k&z=18&om=1 Google Maps location of J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition (Now Premier Parking Garage)]
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040921040017/http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=102730 J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition at Emporis.com]}}
[http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=7465 SkyscraperPage.com's Profile on J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition]
[http://www.homrichinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/J.L.-Hudsons-Detroit-MI1.pdf Full details of the J. L. Hudson building's demolition by Homrich Demolition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324184331/http://www.homrichinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/J.L.-Hudsons-Detroit-MI1.pdf |date=2014-03-24 }}
[http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp?reqLocId=7&reqItemId=20030225133807 World Record for tallest steel framed building ever imploded] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220103947/http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp?reqLocId=7&reqItemId=20030225133807 |date=2008-12-20 }}
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SxwNW4yMs8 Video of J. L. Hudson Department Store Implosion]
[https://archive.org/details/201611181436 Hudson's hundredth 1881-1981 (booklet)]

Category:Target Corporation

Category:Downtown Detroit

Category:Defunct department stores based in Michigan

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Detroit

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Michigan

Category:Department store buildings in the United States

Category:History of Detroit

Category:Woodward Avenue

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1891

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1923

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1946

Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1998