National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
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NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: WGPR-TV Other names/site number: William V. Banks Broadcast Museum and Media Center Name of related multiple property listing: 20th Century Civil Rights Sites in the City of Detroit, 1900-1976 (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: 3146 East Jefferson Avenue City or town: Detroit State: Michigan County: Wayne Not For Publication: Vicinity: ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide ___local Applicable National Register Criteria: _X_ A ___B ___C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 WGPR-TV Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: X Public – Local Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) X District Site Structure Object Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 WGPR-TV Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing _____2_______ _____________ buildings _____________ _____________ sites _____ _______ _____________ structures _____________ _____________ objects _____2_______ _______0______ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ___N/A____ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) COMMERCE/TRADE: Specialty Store COMMERCE/TRADE: Business: Television Station COMMERCE/TRADE: Business: Radio Station ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) RECREATION AND CULTURE: Museum COMMERCE/TRADE: Business: Radio Station ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Sections 1-6 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 WGPR-TV Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State _____________________________________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) LATE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN MOVEMENTS: Commercial Style ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: BRICK, GLASS BLOCK Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph WGPR-TV, now known as the William V. Banks Broadcast Museum and Media Center, consists of two circa-1920s commercial buildings on East Jefferson Avenue in the city of Detroit, Michigan. The buildings are located in the middle of the block bounded by Jefferson Avenue to the north, Walker Street to the east, Woodbridge Street to the south, and McDougall Avenue to the west. The east building is a one-story, Commercial Brick structure faced in buff brick and the west building is a two-story, Commercial Brick structure also faced in buff brick. A boxed canopy extends across the front of both buildings, and the store fronts are infilled with glass block with paired entry doors in the center. They both extend to Woodbridge Street on the south side with common brick elevations and garage doors. While exterior integrity of the building could not be determined (and it is not being nominated under Criterion C), the interior television studio retains a very high degree of integrity, including television rigging and equipment on the ceiling. Section 7 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 WGPR-TV Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State _____________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description Site WGPR-TV (present day William V. Banks Broadcast Museum and Media Center) consists of two circa-1920s commercial buildings on East Jefferson Avenue in the city of Detroit, Michigan. It is located on the south side of East Jefferson Avenue between McDougall Avenue and Walker Street. To the south is the Detroit River. Jefferson Avenue is one of the main thoroughfares of Detroit, and has been since it was laid out as one of Judge Augustus Woodward’s radial streets following the fire that devastated the city in 1805. As Detroit expanded in the early 1800s, Jefferson Avenue was the first location of the mansions of its elite citizens. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as the wealthy classes began moving to Brush Park and farther north, Jefferson Avenue gradually converted to a primarily commercial corridor, although some large mansions and residential apartment buildings remain east of downtown. In the early to mid- twentieth century, portions of East Jefferson Avenue passed through the area just south of Detroit’s dense and segregated African American neighborhood, Black Bottom, which ended around St. Aubin Street, about five blocks west of WGPR-TV. Black Bottom was largely demolished during urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s, replaced by present-day Lafayette Park and Elmwood Park. The area around WGPR-TV is a mix of commercial, retail, and residential. Formerly, the blocks between East Jefferson Avenue and the Detroit River were primarily industrial, but many of the industrial buildings in the immediate vicinity have been demolished or converted to residential and office use. East Jefferson Avenue is lined on either side with a variety of buildings ranging from late nineteenth and early twentieth century mansions and high-rise apartment buildings, to early to mid-twentieth century commercial buildings, to more recent office and commercial buildings. The immediate area’s topography is relatively flat, and vegetation is generally limited to street trees and some small areas of lawn in front of buildings or in vacant lots. The two buildings that make up WGPR-TV are located in the middle of the block bounded by East Jefferson Avenue to the north, Walker Street to the east, Woodbridge Street to the south, and McDougall Avenue to the west. East of WGPR are two 1920s era buildings that have been combined into one furniture store. West is a vacant lot, and beyond that is the final building on the block, a mid-century commercial building currently being used by the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences. The lots are long, narrow parcels with their short sides facing East