Rowers Fight to Keep the Detroit Boat Club Building and Traditions Afloat

These people are hardcore. While the rest of us are still sleeping, they are out on the Detroit River, in sleek fiberglass shells, rowing their hearts out. When it's too icy to row outside, they row inside, in what was once the ballroom of this beautiful building...now it's training central. The Detroit Boat Club Crew is rebuilding a program that yielded national champions and Olympians into a powerhouse once again.

During Shiver on the River 2010, I took a tour of the Detroit Boat Club, given by a quietly passionate member of Friends of Detroit Rowing, the organization behind the Detroit Boat Club Crew. His enthusiasm for the sport and pride in the talent coming out of their junior rowing program was contagious, especially as he showed us around the room where the boats are stored. The group also has a growing "Learn to Row" program in the summer months for beginning rowers, young or old.

Above... the Boat Club in 1905 (photo from Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Co.)

I'm not likely to become a rower, but I appreciate this group for another reason... they have become the de facto caretakers of this historic Spanish-style building, renting it from the city and doing what they can to keep it from falling further into disrepair. Some views and details from the building, built in 1902:

It was the first concrete structure in the United States.....

Our tour guide, with trophy cases behind him, on the second floor overlooking the grand wood-paneled and carved entry.....

The coffered ceiling of the entry....

The seahorse balusters that line the railings....

A wall sconce...

Leaded glass windows in the stairwell....

The Ballroom then...

and now...ceiling beams stenciled in black and gold....

Plaster detail in the ballroom...

From the rear portico overlooking the children's pool....the Olympic sized pool is to the right, out of view

An older view from the portico..... (from the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Co.)