My mind turned this weekend towards Detroit, following an article in the Washington Post (“Urban Retreat,” by Philip Kennicott, 17 February 2007) describing an exhibit that focuses on shrinking cities, including the Motor City. I am fascinated about the “ghetto palms” which also infest Washington, D.C. (Wouldn’t they make, I wonder, an appropriately contextualized decoration for Palm Sunday? Except that they smell. But at least you don’t have to order them, and their common cultivar name, Tree of Heaven, is churchly enough.)
But my Detroit interest led me to read up on some of the lost opportunities — social, humane, architectural — from that city. Dang if a blogger didn’t feature the former First Congregational Unitarian Church last month, now vacant, damaged but not yet ruined. It is next door to Ecumenical Theological Seminary, I gather. (Google Maps location)
Organ trail (Detroitblog)
Wow! Thanks for finding that extremely interesting blog post.