Packard Plant, Detroit

 As well as going to the Fisher Body Plant, a stop was made at the now crumbling Packard Plant. I wish I could've entered back in the 2000s before people tore it apart. A lot is missing that should be here. The bridges. The buildings. The administration rooms looks barren. I regret not exploring it earlier.

The view through the tunnel the northern end of the complex.

On south end, the five-story art-deco building on the right was demolished in 2019

I started exploring the south side first, there used to be another building here on this grassy part at the south end that was torn down, to be honest almost nothing was left of it anyway, due to most of the building being metal supported, scrappers easily wrecked it,

There were a few of these concrete rooms on the bottom floor at the far south end. And a few pitch- black rooms. You had to walk around a lot of junk to get to the first, now empty court.

It all looks just ready to fall apart at any second, yet due to Albert Kahn's design, the building was meant to last for years, even in disrepair. and it's the only court surrounded on all sides, otherwise known as a courtyard.

I had to climb through another torn-apart court full of dirt and debris to get to these metal shed buildings. There were 4 in a row, where the last Packard tenant had occupied, if they had never moved in there would be nothing.

An Eminem music video was filmed at the plant in 2010

The huge factory seems to be chalked full of old and new pallets now. to the left you can see concrete supports for the water tower that survived.

Here lies conveyer remains that collapsed to the 4th floor after a demolition of the 5th floor

I never made it to the roof of that C-shape building that went around the 9 floor tower. I also wish that I had more time to explore the rest of the building's amazing remaining features.

This is the big street-level canyon that sits in between the surrounding structure and the square building.

Ending up at the tallest building, it was obvious there would be a stair climbing. There were 7 floors of stairs to get to the 7th floor, and an extra one to get to the only bit of roof you could stand on.

I could've easily crossed that canyon if they hadn't scrapped away the bridges, looks like there were 3 spots you could walk across.

When the roof collapsed in 2014, it made it impossible to access the top of the factory without bringing a ladder or hacking out some bricks.

The roof shed some light on a freight elevator, which was maybe for car bits? These elevators are always massive.

A look at what I didn't explore, from the end of the road; the last staircase topping the7th floor

A few things never burnt apart or ravaged, and left behind among the trash.

Closer look at the conveyors, from the 5th floor.

A look down the assembly line. It went down the entire length of the plant.     

Before & after

Part 2

I wanted the full Packard Plant experience, so I returned in early 2022. I'd learned this was the first factory made of reinforced concrete.

I started at the south end of the plant again. I don't really know what this plastic mess is.

This is the southernmost court in the building, viewed from that odd second-story wedge that overhangs the old skylight room.

The third floor was brighter, and more open, it didn't have those bricked up windows.

I don't know what this room was, but it's pulling away from the main building. It currently stands on one metal beam.

This was a form of drainage system for some machine that once stood here.

Here's that oddball building that's stuck between the north and south complexes. I think it's owned by some other guy, but it's in great condition.

I encountered security, but they were already tired of the ruthless attack of urban explorers.

Everything is bigger when you're standing right next to it; here's that shed on the middle structure.

Ventilation room for stores

The bridge that used to connect to the, now illegally demolished buildings; in 1999 by Detroit.

This was taken from the third story of the administration building.

Here's a LOC photo for reference, 1998

You notice the gaping hole atop the elevator shaft? Guess they didn't do reroofing there

A massive smokestack has fallen off the building, you could probably fit a person in there.

See the massive painted sign, I hadn't that noticed earlier.

Department area

The plant has fallen into severely extreme disrepair. How could you possibly repair this?

One floor had this moss-carpet situation. Not much life lives in the Packard like it used to because the majority of the windows making the greenhouse effect are gone.

This must've been some sort of maintenance room, or tool closet. It had racks and stuff.

This building had the worst damage out of the entire facility. This was once the fifth floor.

Brittle tile buildings collapsed first

From here you still have a decent view, I took this from on top of a slab of concrete.

The Packard was completely void of windows, and was basically a skeleton building

This building seemed rather mundane, but very much intact.

"The Ramp" seems to be the least damaged building out of the Packard. It's made of reinforced concrete instead of brick-rebar and concrete.

This ramp-building was used as parking, and later to bring down metal for scrap

This was an interesting three-part staircase. Wish I was here a couple decades ago.

I bet many have taken this photo before me. You can see the water tower; from behind that I began.

Top of the ramp

This used to be the parking garage for Splattball-City. So any auto stuff must've up and left by then.

It was a good day.

Demolition

Homrich workers use a crane truck to remove corrugated steel sheets that covered the plant's bridges

The interior maze of buildings was filled with the company's vehicles, the plant had also began deteriorating rapidly, as massive roadside roof-sections had recently caved in 

The whole area smelled of wet, musty, concrete dust and rust