Body by Fisher

Body by Fisher.  Anyone who grew up in the 60's and 70's around autombiles will recognize that name as synonymous for style and quality.  One would see this symbol, usually on the doorsill as one steps into a General Motors car...you couldn't miss it.  I had a 60's era Pontiac for a while, and my dad had a Chevrolet Impala and later an Oldsmobile.  All had a "Body by Fisher". 

In my recent ramblings around Detroit the evidence of past automotive glory are unmistakable...and sometimes the emphasis of past glory is more on the past than the present.  Such it is with the Fisher Body Plant, located not far from downtown Detroit.

My first view of the plant was from the freeway.  Thankfully traffic was slow enough I could grab a few shots as I waited for traffic to move.  The textures in the image are amazing...the broken windows, exposed red brick, peeling concrete punctuated by colorful graffiti.  I was able to get closer in later images.

The Fisher Body Plant was originally built by General Motors in 1919 with the help of reknowned industrial architect Albert Kahn, shortly after GM bought the operations from the Fisher Brothers.  An interesting feature is the all-concrete construction used in the building, which was different than the Ford Piquette plant built just a few blocks away that still used wooden floors in the structure (and which become a fire hazard when oil and grease seeped into the wood).   Architect Kahn also extensively used large windows to make the assembly areas well lit with natural light.  The plant supplied all the body panels for General Motors vehicles until 1984 when it was shut down.  It has remained empty ever since.

The Fisher Body Plant is just one of many such buildings in this area sitting empty and derelict, often separated from each other by expanses of overgrown parking lots or empty fields.  The lack of human presence gave it an eerie post-apocolyptic feel. 

A glimpse inside offered a peek into what was once a bustling enterprise, and one can easily imagine the fenders, trunk lids, doors and quarter-panels set on pallets ready for shipment to the assembly plant. Now, the silence is often broken by the flutter of pigeons or the caw of nearby crows...or possibly a broken bottle tossed by a squatter.

One of my primary interests is the effect of decay on a building's structure after so many decades of neglect and exposure to the elements.  Here one can see the exposed steel reinforcing on the underside of the second floor slab, where the concrete cover has fallen away.

Seeing the window blinds hanging cattawampus behind broken window panes and underscored by the urban scrawl beneath it only accentuates the sense of abandonment. 

Much has been written and documented about the decline of the American automobile industry, and one could certainly argue that older plants such as this one have been replaced with newer and more efficient ones scattered throughout the country, leading to a recent resurgence of this industry.  Yet seeing the old buildings, once thriving and bustling but now derelict, is perhaps analagous to us as a country...or perhaps us as individuals? 

Are we willing to sit back and let ourselves do the same?

Detroit...a Harbinger of Things to Come?

My travels recently brought me to Motor City, USA.  Being the car guy that I am, and have been so since I was a teenager, this is a mecca of sorts.  I had also heard that Detroit had been hit especially hard by the downturn of our economy, and that large segments of the city was laid to waste.  I was curious, yet despite what I had heard and read, nothing could prepare me for the experience of seeing it for myself.  True, no part of the United States has been spared the effects of the Recession, but the centers of American manufacturing in the northeastern US were probably the hardest hit.  I was both humbled and shocked at what I saw.

It was sad to drive past shuttered factories and abandoned automobile assembly plants...vast parking lots covering tens of acres...empty except for the occasional security car (who wanted to know why I was taking photos and of course wouldn't let me in for a closer peek).   It was even sadder to drive past block after residential block of boarded-up, abandoned or burned out homes.  According to some reports, entire neighborhoods have disappeared and become devoid of homes.

This is Ford Motor Company's Wixom Assembly Plant, where Lincoln Continentals and Thunderbirds were assembled and shipped across the country.  Originally built in 1957, this was one of the oldest and largest Ford plants and produced more than 6 million cars over a 50 year period, until it was shut down in 2007. 

Up to 4,900 employees worked here in the heyday of production, and a little over a thousand when the plant closed.  Here is a video of the day the plant shut down:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMfhxk0i0EM&noredirect=1

The effects of the plant closures (and Ford wasn't the only one, by any means) was devastating to the community.  Detroit was also known for it's beautiful pre-Depression era architecture...buildings such as grand theaters, luxury hotels, offices and other skyscraper buildings that rivaled those in Chicago and New York City.   Even those were not spared the fate of abandonment.  Nothing drives home the economic state of a region more than to see a 16-story building...gutted, derelict and left to the effects of weather and vandalism.  This is the Lee Plaza Hotel, built in the 1920's as a luxury residential hotel.

A street-side view of this building shows a hint of its former glory, with graceful arches and columns now closed behind chain-link fences and sidewalks overgrown with weeds.  More can be seen at this site: http://www.forgottendetroit.com/

Another phenomenon which I did not expect was the number of burned-out houses scattered throughout the city.  One cannot drive more than a few blocks before encountering the charred hulks like those pictured here.  It wasn't just single family homes, but skeletons of apartment buildings, former motels and commercial buildings were also seen repeatedly.  A quick Google search found a couple of reasons for it, one of which is a so-called tradition going back to the 1980's called "Devils Night" before Halloween where empty houses are set afire.  http://www.burnedoutdetroit.net/about/ and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Night.

Also, Detroit fell victim to a number of other inner city issues such as urban flight where many fled to outlying suburbs, leaving empty homes behind...which became targets for vandalism, squatters and arson.  The reasons for leaving of course, are legion.  Allegations of corruption in city government offices and racial tensions are among the ingredients of the soup of recession that bubbles throughout the city. 

The feelings of despair and depression are palpable as one drives through some of the neighborhoods.  Drug addiction and the collateral damage that accompanies it are rampant.  One can wonder but when one cannot find work, be it meaningful or survival, it is no surprise one seeks whatever means one can to alleviate the pain and frustration. 

What is the solution?  Is it as simple as providing jobs for people, so food can be placed on the table and a roof over one's head?  Is it so one can hold one's head up in pride, knowing one contributes to the community...and to society? 

It also begs the question of what is the true cost of corporate profit.  When is the bottom line so important that the community must suffer so that investors meet their goal?  What is government's role in promoting or affecting the corporate decision process?

Having traveled to "real" third world countries, I am at a loss to differentiate with what I have read, seen in images, and now with my own eyes here, in what we would like to call the developed world. 

Is this our future?  That depends on how one contemplates the questions presented here.  I am not a bleeding heart liberal who advocates taking what one person works hard for, and giving to another simply because they don't have it.  However...I am also not a hard-nosed conservative who guards my possessions rights at all costs.

There must be some middle ground...

(Comments are welcome...and lest you become too depressed over this picture I have painted, stay tuned for some truly lovely aspects of Detroit.)