Picture of the Day - 8/19/08

Well, you'll be getting another dose of architecture, because downtown Detroit has plenty worth capturing. This is the old Mariners' Church, next to GM's world headquarters. According to the nearby plaque, in 1842, according to the will of Julia Ann Anderson, Mariners' Church was organized to serve the spiritual needs of the Great Lakes seamen. The Gothic Revival church was built in 1849 on the northwest corner of Woodward Avenue and Woodbridge Street. In 1955 the church was moved to make room for the Civic Center plaza. Hauled 880 feet along steel rails to the present site, the 3000-ton limestone structure blocked Woodward Avenue traffic for 21 days. The church was immortalized in the 1975 ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as the "cathedral" where "the church bell chimed 'til it rang 29 times."