Ann Arbor Bus Depot

The Ann Arbor Bus Depot was an intercity bus station located at 116 W. Huron in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was built in 1940 as the Eastern Michigan Motorbus Terminal, and operated as a bus station until its demolition in 2014. It was designed by the Cleveland-based architects Banfield and Cumming, in partnership with Ann Arbor architect Douglas Loree, in an Art Deco style. Between 1988 and 2001, it was listed as an Individual Historic Property on the Ann Arbor Register of Historic Places. The Bus Depot was demolished in 2014 to make way for a six-story, 110-room hotel on the property. Its facade and marquee were preserved and have been incorporated into the new hotel. It served as Ann Arbor's Greyhound station until shortly before its demolition in 2014. It was also both the last surviving example of Streamline Moderne architecture and the last public Art Deco structure in Ann Arbor.

Located at 116 W. Huron, the Ann Arbor Bus Depot was designed by the Cleveland-based architects Banfield and Cumming, in partnership with local architect Douglas Loree, and was built in 1940 as the Eastern Michigan Motorbus Terminal. It cost $60,000 to build, and was at the time considered one of the most modern bus stations in the United States. It was dedicated by Ann Arbor mayor Walter C. Sadler on September 5, 1940. The building operated as a bus station from 1940 until its demolition in 2014. Originally, it was owned by the Eastern Michigan Motorbus Company, and was used by the Blue Goose, Greyhound, and Short Way bus lines. By 1952, Blue Goose service had ended and had been replaced by the Bee Line bus company. Prior to the creation of the Bus Depot, the site was home to an Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Street Railway depot and transformer tower that were built in 1898. The interurban system served the location until its demise in 1929, at which point it was succeeded by a replacement bus service.

One of a number of bus stations built in the Art Deco style during the 1930s and 1940s, the Ann Arbor Bus Depot was featured in the book Modern Bus Terminals and Post Houses. Similarly designed Banfield and Cumming bus depots were also built in Kalamazoo and Windsor during 1940. The exterior design of the Bus Depot consisted of a black granite base, Indiana limestone, and curved glass, finished with a stainless steel-trimmed, porcelain enamel marquee. According to Karen L. Brandt, the exterior design was intended to "evoke a feeling of movement and speed". The building itself was steel framed and rectangular in shape, measuring 182 ft (55 m) by 55 ft (17 m). The Bus Depot's rear and side walls were built with buff brick, and a porte-cochère served as a bus lane on the building's east side.

The original interior of the Ann Arbor Bus Depot featured birchwood cabinetry and stainless steel stairways designed to complement the sleek appearance of the exterior. As originally built, the Bus Depot's interior included a baggage room, a ticket counter, a waiting area that could accommodate 62 people, and a 300-square-foot (28 m2) lunch counter that sat 14 diners. Restrooms were located on the mezzanine level. By 2005, however, the building's interior had been extensively modified, and the only original features that had survived were the ceramic tiled walls in the restrooms and banded steel rails on the stairs. The original beige and brown terrazzo floors had been covered over with beige vinyl tile. In 2005, Brandt described the Bus Depot as being "in dire need of cleaning, repair and restoration", noting examples of chipped enamel, roof corrosion, rusted window frames, cracked windowpanes, and cracked mortar in masonry throughout the building.

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