Dear members, supporters, and fans,

As 2023 ends, we are pleased to report that Preservation Detroit has closed another successful year of advocacy and walking tours. And none of this would be possible without generous donations to fund our mission and operations from supporters like you.

2023 was a busy year for advocacy:

We started the year with three lectures to advance Preservation education in our community –the renovation of Michigan Central Station, the life and career of Minoru Yamasaki, and the nuances of Historic District Commissions in the Spring. All three events were free and public.
We hosted monthly “Preservation Happy Hours” at four Detroit venues this summer, with special guests Raquel Castaneda-Lopez (Detroit City Council) and Marsha Battle Philpot (storyteller, cultural historian, and poet). Follow us on social media for similar events in 2024.
We organized letter-writing campaigns in the autumn to fight demolition plans and urge restoration of the Boat Club Building on Belle Isle and the Del Bene Building in Eastern Market. Our success with the Del Bene Building created great press coverage for our mission.

Yet every effort this year wasn’t successful, as we again lament the loss in July of 3143 Cass Avenue – a center for community, events, education, theater, and life in Detroit's Historic Chinatown.

But Preservation Detroit also realized a number of smaller successes too:

We were featured in a February Crain’s editorial authored by Ron Staley (Christman Co.) about Historic Preservation being key to a vibrant, successful community.
We finalized the City of Detroit’s Programmatic Agreement with key stakeholders – the National Trust, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the State Historic Preservation Office, and local tribes like the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.
We authored support for the Detroit Public Library Main Branch’s efforts to secure grant funding to clean and repair its elegant white Vermont marble facade.
We were featured at the 2023 AIA Celebration of Architecture in Eastern Market.
We continue to pressure the City of Detroit to adopt a Preservation Plan to protect its irreplaceable historic resources.

It pleases us to report that Preservation Detroit has also grown our Board of Directors – from an early low of four members back to an active, engaged group of nine as of this writing. Our new additions include: Nate Lindsey, Alex Hill, Chris Gongora, and Maria Perez-Malik. The current treasurer, Richard Summersett will exit the board in early 2024, and we wish him well.

Again this year, the Tours Program was a grand success. Our volunteers held 22 weekends of regular events, leading nearly 60 separate Saturday tours and serving over 450 guests. Our Weekday tours also grew – engaging with 67 guests on 13 dates. We started a new specialty offering on June 9th with 2 Detroit Houses of Worship Tours, visiting Holy Family Catholic Church, St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Christ Church Detroit, and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

And we rebooted our beloved Theater Tours with 4 sold-out tours on July 7th, visiting the Detroit Opera House, Music Hall, Gem, Michigan, Fillmore and Fox Theaters. Our tour season again wrapped in October with 4 weekends of Cemetery Tours – completely selling out 6 tours. We were proud to fete our hard-working volunteers November 7th at Z's Villa to express our profound gratitude for another year of exceptional service.

Join us in looking toward 2024 and help to support our mission to preserve the rich fabric of Detroit that we all love. Your partnership in our efforts is truly treasured, and we cannot accomplish all that we do without your yearly gifts.

Preservation Detroit’s Board of Directors

Devan Anderson, Board President

Richard Summersett, Treasurer

Alex Hill, Director

Chris Gongora, Director

Jeff Richards, Director

Mark Hall, Director

Maria Perez, Director

Nate Lindsey, Director

Tanya Stephens, Director

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2023 Year End Letter