Santa Fe Apartments
apartment building in Detroit, Michigan
The Santa Fe Apartments were an apartment building located in Detroit, Michigan. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and subsequently demolished by Wayne State University and removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. The site is now the location of the Yousif B. Ghafari Hall.
History and significance
The Santa Fe was built in 1925 for $95,000. The building was a fine example of Mission and Spanish Revival; this style was used frequently for homes and religious buildings, but its use in a multi-unit dwelling is rare. The building was designed by architects F. William Wiedmaier and John B. Gay, and built by Harry Dunitz. The apartment building was purchased by Wayne State University in the 1950s, and was used for student housing until its demolition in 1996.
Description
The Santa Fe Apartments were a five-story apartment building, measuring 45 feet by 122 feet, built of brick, tile, and grey stone, with plentiful architectural details on the front façade. It had a predominantly flat roof, but with a prominent gable at the front. Vertical elements on the façade were created by rectangular columns and tall, narrow windows on the upper floors.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Santa Fe Apartments” as apartment building in Detroit, Michigan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as apartment building in Detroit, Michigan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7419499. Authority coordinates are 42.357, -83.072. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1986, 2022, 1925 and 1996.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Santa Fe Apartments”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Santa Fe Apartments primary sources, Santa Fe Apartments archive and Santa research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Santa Fe Apartments”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Santa Fe Apartments” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.