The J. L. Hudson Building ("Hudson's") was a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

located at 1206

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...

in downtown

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 U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. 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 Joseph Lowthian Hudson (October 17, 1846 – July 5, 1912), a.k.a. J. L. Hudson, was the merchant who founded the Hudson's department store in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson also supplied the seed capital for the establishment, in 1909, of Roy D. Cha ...

. Hudson's first building on the site opened in 1891 but was demolished in 1923 for a new structure. It was the flagship store for the

Hudson's The J. L. Hudson Company (commonly known simply as Hudson's) was an upscale retail department store chain based in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson's flagship store, on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit (demolished October 24, 1998), was the tallest ...

chain. The building was demolished in a controlled demolition on October 24, 1998, and at the time it was the tallest building ever imploded.

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. HudsonWindow

Hudson's boasted about 2.2 million sq. ft. of retail and office space, included several restaurants and was built in the Chicago School

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

. 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 tall from its second basement to the top of the penthouse tower. It was also topped by a 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 Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, 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 exactly 5:47 p.m. ET on October 24, 1998. 20,000 people watched as the building was imploded — turning it into a 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 The Detroit People Mover (DPM) is a elevated automated people mover system in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The system operates in a one-way loop on a single track encircling downtown Detroit, using Intermediate Capacity Transit System ...

. Many people watched the demolition from

Hart Plaza Philip A. Hart Plaza, in downtown Detroit, is a city plaza along the Detroit River. It is located more or less on the site at which Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac landed in 1701 when he founded '' Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit' ...

at the foot of Woodward Avenue and Dieppe Gardens in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

. 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.

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 SHoP Architects is an architecture firm in Lower Manhattan, New York City, with projects located on five continents. Led by four principals, the firm provides services to residences, commercial buildings, schools and cultural institutions, as wel ...

and Detroit-based Hamilton Anderson Associates to lead the design process of redevelopment on the site. Bedrock broke ground on the development on December 14, 2017; the plans include a tower of 62 stories and and a mid-rise building of 14 stories. The project is expected to open in 2023.

Records

* Tallest department store / retail building in the world. * Second largest department store building in the United States, exceeded by

Macy's Herald Square Macy's Herald Square (originally named the R. H. Macy and Company Store) is the flagship of Macy's department store, as well as the Macy's, Inc. corporate headquarters, on Herald Square in Manhattan, New York City. The building's , which includ ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. * Second tallest building to have a controlled implosion, tallest until the unfinished Meena Plaza I in Abu Dhabi was imploded in 2020. * Second largest building to have a controlled implosion, after the Sears Merchandise Center in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, which was imploded in 1994.

References

External links

Google Maps location of J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition (Now Premier Parking Garage)

J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition at Emporis.com

SkyscraperPage.com's Profile on J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition

Full details of the J. L. Hudson building's demolition by Homrich Demolition

World Record for tallest steel framed building ever imploded

Video of J. L. Hudson Department Store Implosion

Hudson's hundredth 1881-1981 (booklet)
{{DEFAULTSORT:J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition Target Corporation Downtown Detroit Defunct department stores based in Michigan Demolished buildings and structures in Detroit Demolished buildings and structures in Michigan Historic department store buildings in the United States History of Detroit Woodward Avenue Commercial buildings completed in 1891 Commercial buildings completed in 1923 Commercial buildings completed in 1946 Buildings and structures demolished in 1998 Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion 1911 establishments in Michigan 1946 establishments in Michigan 1983 disestablishments in Michigan 1998 disestablishments in Michigan Skyscrapers in Michigan Skyscrapers in Detroit Former skyscrapers Chicago school architecture in Michigan

The structure

Future

Records

See also

References

External links