AuthenticPackard.com

Art vs. blight – The Detroit Packard Fac

Authentic Packard — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:12:29 +0000

Art vs. blight – The Detroit Packard Factory: http://ow.ly/2akJY

Graffiti artist leaves mark on Detroit’s Packard Factory

Authentic Packard — Sat, 15 May 2010 15:15:50 +0000

A British-born art world celebrity and provocateur has tagged Detroit — most prominently a crumbling wall at the derelict Packard plant. A stenciled work shows a forlorn boy holding a can of red paint next to the words “I remember when all this was trees.”

Artists from the 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios, a feisty grassroots group, quickly excavated the 7-by-8-foot, 1,500-pound cinder block wall with a masonry saw and forklift and moved the piece to their grounds near the foot of the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit. This has sparked an intense debate about the nature of graffiti art, including complicated questions of meaning, legality, value and ownership. Some say the work should be protected and preserved at all costs. Others say that no one had a right to move it — and that the power and meaning of graffiti art is so intrinsic to its location that to relocate it is to kill it.

The Packard Factory’s unique “Garden of the Gods”

Authentic Packard — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:32:19 +0000

Have you seen Scott Hocking’s “Garden of the Gods” collection? This installation is built on the collapsed roof of the massive Albert Kahn designed Packard automobile plant. Only a handful of Kahn’s cast concrete columns remain standing among the rubble, leaving a site reminiscent of both the Roman Forum and Bernini’s Piazza San Pietro.

Using the columns as pedestals, the twelve gods of the classical Greek Pantheon are replaced and represented by televisions found elsewhere in the building. This new pantheon of gods will be documented through the seasons, until the structure collapses, is demolished, or the TV towers are destroyed in some way.

Click here for a look at the collection. For more information about Scott Hocking, visit http://www.scotthocking.com/

2007 Visit to the Packard Factory

Authentic Packard — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:06:31 +0000

On October 7, 2007 John Penrice decided to visit the largest abandoned building in the city of Detroit – the Packard Motor Car Company. Here is a link to his post on the visit:

http://www.johnpenrice.com/dnn/PackardFactory/tabid/67/Default.aspx

Timeline of the Packard Factory

Authentic Packard — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:09:29 +0000

This timeline of the Packard Factory is courtesy of the Detroit Free Press (PDF) http://www.freep.com/uploads/pdfs/2008/04/packard_time_line0418.pdf

Last Packard Factory tenant

Authentic Packard — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:06:55 +0000

Here’s an interesting article from CNNMoney.com about the last tenant in the Detroit Packard Plant, Chemical Processing, Inc. http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/30/smallbusiness/chemical_processing_detroit.smb/index.htm

Packard Factory Office Wood

Authentic Packard — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:56:44 +0000

Many of the offices in the Packard factory buildings on Detroit’s East Grand Boulevard in Detroit contained paneling made of first-growth Oak that cannot readily be found on the market today. The Packard Motor Car Foundation and Authentic Packard have reclaimed all remaining wood paneling and this affords a nice opportunity for this wood to be recycled and used in historic preservation or for present-day uses.

Authentic Packard is a Detroit-based company that has carefully removed the wood from the Factory. It is now preparing for sale and marketing it for the Foundation, with a substantial portion of the proceeds to benefit the Packard Proving Grounds Historic Site.

The Recovered Wood

This is an opportunity to own a piece of history, a conversation piece that is in limited supply. The wood, its potential hidden for over fifty years has been saved and is available for historic restoration or for new uses. This is all there will ever be.

Wood Types and Dimensions

Old Growth Oak:

This is the major type of wood recovered from the site and is indicated by tight growth rings, and a straight grain pattern. This wood was likely two to three hundred years old when it was installed a hundred years ago, and is of the highest quality. We have 1x up to 8”, 5/4 and 2x up to 6”. Although we have a variety of pieces up to 16′ in length, the most plentiful pieces are 1″ x 8″ and 3′ long. The wood can also be custom trimmed and laminated with multiple pieces to create the dimensions you need. It is well suited for wall paneling, wainscot, trim molding, custom furniture, picture frames, and plaques. Doors and crown molding from the site are also available.

Clear Hemlock Fir:

Most of the 4^th floor of the office building of the East Grand Boulevard factory complex, added in 1912, was paneled in this wood. We have 1×6.