The Detroit Naval Armory is located at 7600 East Jefferson Avenue in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. It is also known as the R. Thornton Brodhead Armory. The armory was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1980 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1994.

Description

The Detroit Naval Armory is a limestone structure with four main sections: a vestibule, a drill hall, an office / penthouse section, and a company drill hall. The building mixes Art Moderne and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

influences, and contains a large array of nautically themed WPA art by artists including John Tabaczuk, Edgar Yaeger, David Fredenthal and Gustave Hildebrand. The building faces East Jefferson; the entrance is heavily decorated in military and naval themes using Pewabic tiles. In front of the building is a semi-circular drive encircling a flagpole, unvailed May 26, 1942, in honor of Captain R. Thornton Brodhead and a large Navy anchor from the '' USS Yantic'', a

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

gunboat whose hull is buried in a filled-in boat slip in Gabriel Richard Park.

History

In the 1880s, several states formed "naval militias", the forerunners of present-day Navy and Marine Corps Reserve units. Michigan formed the

Michigan Naval Militia The Michigan Naval Militia was founded in 1893. It is the currently an unorganized naval militia of the U.S. state and is recognized as a component of the militia of Michigan. The Michigan Naval Militia, along with the Michigan National Guard an ...

in 1893; the militia quickly became a popular pastime for wealthy Detroiters. Even so, the militia fought in both the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. By 1929, over 600 men were part of the militia, and it had outgrown its existing headquarters. Captain Richard Thorton Brodhead convinced the Michigan state legislature to construct a new building.R. Thornton Brodhead Naval Armory Marine Corps Reserve Center/Detroit Naval Armory
from Detroit1701.org The state of Michigan and the city of Detroit pooled $375,000 to build a new armory on Jefferson near the foot of the Belle Isle bridge. Detroit Naval Armory, Detroit, Michigan

The new armory opened in 1930, and was used as both a training facility and civic event site. The indoor drill floor was used for dances, USO mixers, auto shows, and political and sporting events. In 1932, future heavyweight champion

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He re ...

fought his first career bout. Between May 1936 and 1939, improvements were made to the facility by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

, a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

agency that provided employment and created

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

projects throughout the United States during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The extensive remodeling and expansion project included a basement motorpool and gymnasium; enlargement of the third floor, to add an officer's wardroom, mess hall and kitchen; and a fourth-floor penthouse wing to accommodate visiting officers. The WPA also funded numerous

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

contributions to the armory between 1936 and 1941. Captain Brodhead and architect William Stratton accepted a proposal by artist David Fredenthal and reconfigured an entire wall in the wardroom to include bookshelves and a fireplace. Fredenthal and his assistants then created a mural in five panels, in true

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

, depicting the range of experiences on shipboard. He also created a smaller mural in the adjacent bar area. A mural on the four walls of the mess hall was painted by Edgar Yaeger; one of his assistants, John Tabaczuk, carved some 20 insets for wooden doors in the building, as well as a fanciful bannister on the stairway to the penthouse. Gustave Hildebrand, assisted by James Johnson, incised plaster on the four walls at the main east entrance to create 800 feet of bas relief depicting the everyday activities of sailors. This collection of WPA art is the largest collection of federally funded Depression-era artwork of any building in the state; one authority stated that the Detroit Naval Armory contains "the richest WPA art collection of any building in Michigan, with the greatest variety of different media in one collection." During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the armory was used as a barracks and schoolhouse for Navy diesel and electrical schools. After the war ended, it was again used as a training center for reservists. The armory was eventually renamed the R. Thornton Brodhead Armory, in memory of its first Naval leader. The armory was home to Marines and Sailors of Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines until 2004."Brodhead Armory eyed for renovation"
''Detroit Free Press'', 2/14/2008 As of 2008, plans were to refurbish the armory to include bowling, fitness and youth boxing club facilities.

References

External links

"Detroit's Abandoned Naval Armory in 43 Ghostly Photos"

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Detroit (January 16, 2015) {{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Armories on the National Register of Historic Places Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Armories in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Infrastructure completed in 1930 Works Progress Administration in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Art Deco architecture in Michigan Unused buildings in Detroit Federal Art Project 1930 establishments in Michigan