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Lost structure, Detroit, 1898 to 1945

Light Guard Armory

Demolished in 1945

A drawing of Light Guard Armory from its recorded size and style. No photo we may share has turned up yet.
Opened
1898
Style
Richardsonian Romanesque
Torn down
1945

Designed by Malcomson & Higginbotham

The Light Guard Armory stood in Detroit from 1898 until 1945. Here is what it was, who made it and where to find the spot today.

On the map

Then and now

What stands there now

Today

Millender Center, a mixed-use complex in downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States, 2022 Photo: 42-BRT, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Renaissance City Apartments

Built 1985, 33 stories, Apartment building

Detroit's Light Guard Armory, designed by Malcomson & Higginbotham, stood on this spot for 47 years. The site waited 40 years. In 1985, the Renaissance City Apartments opened there: 33 stories, designed by SDG Associates. It has now stood 41 years.

The Millender Center is a mixed-use building complex in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The complex spans two city blocks, containing a retail atrium, Detroit People Mover station, and parking garage on its first seven floors, plus the 33-floor Renaissance City Club Apartments and a 20-floor, 265-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Read the story of the Renaissance City Apartments Walk the block on the map
  1. 1898 Opens Light Guard Armory
  2. 1945 Comes down Light Guard Armory
  3. 1985 Rises Renaissance City Apartments
  4. 2026 Today Renaissance City Apartments, 41 years on the site
How we know what stands there
  • OpenStreetMap Millender Center Apartments, apartment building at the map point

Checked October 25, 2026. We never guess: a site no source speaks for shows no answer.

What is there now

Renaissance City Apartments

  • Rose on the site 33 stories, apartment building Source: OpenStreetMap
  • Light Guard Armory came down Source: Historic Detroit
See then and now

We checked Wikidata, Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Rebuild Detroit's landmark records and the county parcel records on October 25, 2026.

The story

By Victoria Jackson, Editor in Chief Updated

In 1898, as Detroit's lumber, stove and shipbuilding money went into brick and stone, the Light Guard Armory went up.

The design came from Malcomson & Higginbotham, working in Richardsonian Romanesque.

It is gone now, demolished in 1945, and the map pin below marks where it stood.

Timeline

  1. 1898 Built Designed by Malcomson & Higginbotham
  2. 1945 Closed
  3. 1945 Demolished
  4. 2026 Today 81 years since it came down

Where it is

329 E. Larned St.

On this map

  1. Light Guard Armory This place
  2. Burton Abstract & Title Co. Building 230 ft
  3. Renaissance City Apartments 320 ft
  4. Alexander Chapoton House 400 ft
  5. William Cotter Maybury Monument 450 ft
  6. Christopher Columbus Monument 450 ft
  7. Old Wayne County Building 450 ft
  8. Biddle House 480 ft
  9. Reid Building 490 ft

Street map from OpenStreetMap contributors

Who made it

Malcomson & Higginbotham
Photo: Del arte at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Architect

Malcomson & Higginbotham

American architectural firm based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Designed St. Joseph's Episcopal Church (1883) and 51 more in Metro Detroit

Also by Malcomson & Higginbotham

More from Detroit in the 1890s

Around the block

Sources

Facts only, gathered from these sources. The story above is written by Rebuild Detroit. Every photo names its author and license where it appears.