Dime Savings Bank, Detroit

wylk

Here’s a vault door that I’ve known about for a while but now there’s good news. First, some history. This is at 701-719 Griswold Street in Detroit and is now called the Chrysler House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_House, http://www.emporis.com/building/dimebuilding-detroit-mi-usa). I first learned about the former bank from a postcard on eBay:

Not only is it an impressive door, it uses Emil Strauss’ boltwork which I find fascinating. If you look at the image full size, it looks like it was constructed by Diebold (the text is semi-readable on the inner glass panel). But the vault area was in significant disrepair. The interior of the door appears to be in very good condition while the parts not protected by glass have corroded, based on recent images at http://amagicalmysterytour.tumblr.com/post/36222217930/is-this-real-life-vault-downtown-detroit-bank, http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaron_waterman/7317749112/in/photostream, http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaron_waterman/7315667172/in/photostream, and http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaron_waterman/7312479110/in/photostream.

Now the good news. A recent (February 12, 2014) article in the Detroit News (http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140212/BIZ/302120020/0/BIZ/Detroit-building-renovations-bring-past-out-vault) shows that this area has been renovated and is now in use by dPOP!, a design firm that is part of the Quicken Loans family of companies:

There isn’t much discussion about whether the door was restored or just dusted off, but they do mention “the company still saved time and money by keeping some original features, such as the massive vault doors. If they had tried to remove them for a more traditional office, the demolition costs would have been great.” I have no idea if they appreciate vaultophiles dropping in but the situation has improved a lot.

A Google Images search for “dpop detroit” (without the quotes) brings forth more imagery and text, notably http://www.mlive.com/business/detroit/index.ssf/2013/09/photos_quicken_loans_spin-off.html and http://www.quickenloans.com/blog/rubber-band-effect and http://photos.metrotimes.com/index.php/35-great-shots-from-drinks-x-design-at-dpop/#5.

Huw Eastwood

Nice door- I love the contrast of the brass and steel on those 🙁happy):

wylk

Some of the other images verify that there is a second large door, rectangular in this case:

And what looks like an emergency door except it is strangely puny, and can be opened from the inside but only if you know the combination(s). You can just see safe deposit boxes in the distance:

wylk

I believe I have figured out the “puny” emergency door, or at least I have a reasonable theory. Here’s another image from inside the safe deposit vault:

In the background there are two of these small doors, one apparently going each way. I believe the two vaults share a wall which is not very substantial. Rather than installing two big emergency doors, these perform the same function by allowing passage between the two vaults. As long as both main doors are closed and locked you have full, traditional security. If one of the main doors malfunctions you can still get inside the other vault and cross over. So they sacrificed inter-vault security to save money by using these puny doors for emergency access.

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