The Madison‑Lenox Hotel was a historic hotel building located in downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. Constructed in the early 1920s, the structure combined two originally separate hotels—the Madison and the Lenox—into a single façade along Woodward Avenue. The building was eight stories tall and exhibited elements of Renaissance Revival architecture, typical of many commercial structures erected in Detroit during that period.
History and use
The combined hotel opened to the public in the mid‑1920s and operated as a conventional accommodation facility for several decades. By the 1970s, changes in the downtown hotel market led to a decline in occupancy, and the building was subsequently repurposed for low‑income housing and mixed commercial use. It remained in use for residential purposes into the early 2000s.
Preservation status and demolition
The Madison‑Lenox Hotel was the subject of local preservation advocacy due to its architectural significance and contribution to Detroit’s early‑20th‑century streetscape. Despite these efforts, the building was deemed structurally unsound and was demolished in 2005. The demolition was carried out after the city issued a demolition permit and under the oversight of the Detroit Historic Preservation Commission.
Current site
Following demolition, the site was cleared for future development. As of the latest available records, no new structure has been erected on the former hotel footprint.
Note: Specific details such as the exact year of construction, the architect’s name, and the precise dates of historic designation are not consistently documented in publicly accessible encyclopedic sources.
