Lafayette Park, completed in 1960, is an exceptional example of modern urban architecture, as well as urban planning, according to the City of Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board. Its 26 buildings by Mies van der Rohe, are his only works in Michigan and the largest collection of his buildings in the world. It includes a small shopping center.
Lafayette Park offers three high rise apartment buildings: Lafayette Pavilion and Lafayette Towers, designed by van der Rohe, and 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative, designed by Gunnar Birkerts. Each offers the unadorned, glass and steel feel of the Lafayette Park � which van der Rohe cited the "civilizing force" of technology as the "driving and sustaining forces" of its time � with their own swimming pools and fitness centers. However, many who prefer ground level condominiums and apartments value the intimate village feeling of the area.
Lafayette Park is a short walk from downtown and Eastern Market, and a short bike ride to the cultural center, downtown, and the East Riverfront/Belle Isle. A small shopping center offers built into the neighborhood on Lafayette Boulevard, complete with the Paris Caf� coffee shop and grocery store. There is plenty of green space, including a neighborhood park, with landscape architecture dressing up the periphery of the neighborhood.