Michigan Central Station, Detroit, USA

Michigan Central Station (aka Michigan Central Depot or MCS) was built in 1913, after the previous Michigan Central Station burned. The station was built for the Michigan Central Railroad and has been Detroit and Michigan’s passenger rail depot from its opening in 1913 until the cessation of Amtrak service on January 6, 1988. At the time of its construction, it was the tallest rail station in the world.

The building, located in the Corktown district of Detroit, about 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of downtown Detroit, still stands today, though it remains unoccupied.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Restoration projects and plans have gone as far as the negotiation process, but none has come to fruition. Detroit City Council voted on April 7, 2009, to demolish the building, passing a resolution that calls for expedited demolition. Detroit resident Stanley Christmas subsequently sued the city to stop the demolition effort, citing the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

Restoration of Michigan Central Station is seen as an important project for the economic development of the City of Detroit. The city economy is strongly tightened to the automotive industry and during the last fifty years suffered of a progressive decline, that caused Detroit’s population fell from a peak of roughly 1.8 million in 1950 to about half that number today. Consequently the city is heavily affected by abandonment, that, considering only housing, is estimated to amount of some 12.000 buildings, as it’s very clearly documented by the project 100 Abandoned Houses: a very difficult situation to solve, but a bet for the western world that will have to face situations like this over and over during the next decades.

Text partly from Wikipedia, Michigan Central Station

Other resources:
[100 Abandoned Houses]
[More photos]
[Video]