The Eighth Precinct Station of the Detroit Police
Department has as its prototype the French chateau. It was designed by Louis Kamper and constructed in 1900-1901 at a
total cost, including land, of $46,490. The main building,
a two-and-one-half story structure, is about seventy-two
feet long by forty-five feet wide and faces south. The
garage, also a two-and-one-half story structure, sits just to
the west of the main building and is about forty-six feet long
by thirty feet wide. It faces south west. Both buildings
feature high pitched roofs, towers with conical roofs,
elaborate stone dentils which give the impression, especially
on the towers, of battlements. The basic exterior construction
on the gro1nd floor is limestone, while on the upper floors
it is brick banded with the same stone as used on the ground
floor. There is a paved lot 'in back of the·buildings, and
both are joined by a stone passageway of excellent workmanship.
The main station entrance is a covered stone porch, framed
by three semi-circular arches supported by ribbed gothic columns. The capitals of the columns are decorated with the
carved faces, in half relief, of Governor Hazen Pingree, Detroit Mayor William Maybury and the faces of the four men who made
up the Detroit Police Commission at the time the building was built. There is a stone balustrade across the porch, and
another above the porch.
Two full towers, topped with conical roofs frame the
entrance way. The windows have transoms and stone lintels.
The highest window in each tower features an elaborate stone hood-moulding. The wall dormer on the second story features three windows topped with basket-handle arches, each of which contains a croissette. Above the windows is a circular window, outlined in stone; framing a Maltese Cross. The gable is highlighted by a steeply pitched pediment and is decorated by elaborate stone tracery.
The garage continues many of the same stylistic touches
of the main building. There is a full tower on the western corner of the building which is identical to the two on the main building except that the second story windows have been covered with iron bars. The eastern end of the garage features a tourelle on the second story. The main door is a double door with a semi-circular arch. The wall dormer on the second story is identical to that on the main building except that it lacks a circular window.
The interior of the main building is highlighted by high ceilinged rooms and ceramic tile floors. The basic construction is plaster and lath. Natural wood mouldings are prominent throughout. The interior of the towers, which is used for office space, features circular mouldings on the walls. The garage is now used for storage.
The building remains unchanged from its 1901 construction, except for the addition of iron bars in the 1920s to the
second story windows of the garage when the building was used as a detention cell.
The Eighth Precinct Station was constructed at a time when the Chateauesque style architecture was popular in Detroit, but it is an unique example of the application of this type of design to a police station. It is also a reminder of a time when life was different as can be seen by reading the annual reports of the precinct. In 1917, twenty-one complaints were received involving horses and dogs straying or stolen, seventy- one cornplaints of dog bites, one hundred eighty-five complaints of larcenies from breaking and entering a building, and only fifty-eight complaints of stolen automobiles. There were seven hundred sixty-six arrests for drunke§ness, one hundred seventy- eight for speeding, twenty-five for non-support, and two each for forgery and murder. These figures show a society in the midst of a change with the horse giving way to the automobile and a relatively small town giving way to a large metropolitan area.
The Eighth Precinct Station is significant for two reasons. It is an example of the Chateauesque style used in a governmental structure. In addition, it is the second oldest police building in Detroit which is still in use, and as such, is a
monument in the history of Detroit.-
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