Schools, churches, homes — these are just a few architectural casualties of the past decade in Detroit. Alongside the tremendous investment now flowing into certain parts of the city, demolitions have also increased. In some cases, buildings that have been around for more than a century and played integral roles in Detroit’s civic and social spheres have been razed by property speculators and city agencies.

Many of these historic albeit vacant buildings were leveled to make space for surface-level parking, which now occupies about 40 percent of land downtown. Who are these newly empty lots serving, and were they worth the cost?

Browse through these before and after photos of Detroit buildings demolished in favor of parking, or in some cases, just empty lots.