With all the renovations happening in Detroit lately, it was only a matter of time before I created before/after images of one of Detroit’s renovated buildings. The images shared here belong to the Metropolitan Building located on John R. The building opened in early 2019 as a boutique hotel named Element Detroit by Marriott. And more recently, the opening of the Monarch Club bar on the top floor of the building.

All of the before images were captured in 2014. The first visit was with Bryan Levy, and the second with permission (thanks to the building owner at the time). The after images were captured during two different trips to the hotel. Thanks to the hotel manager, I was able to get permission to shoot the images of the lobby and Monarch Club.

This group of before/afters is in the lobby of the Metropolitan / Elements Hotel.

This group of before/afters is inside the Monarch Club, the top two floors of the building, showing indoor seating areas, outdoor seating and bar.

Here is a gallery of images from before, as well as from after, of the Metropolitan Building / Element Hotel / Monarch Club. I hope you enjoyed this photo story, please share with those who may be interested in Detroit!

Want to see my other galleries? You can start here.

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