Meet a Curbed Detroit contributor: architecture critic Kelly Ellsworth. From time to time, she brings us detailed arguments about local development, buildings, marketing? or whatever else strikes her fancy. And she's quite fancy.
All minds turn to love on Valentine's Day. While I'm a huge fan of manufactured sentiment, I also believe in avoiding crowds and using the actual date of a holiday as a suggestion instead of a hard deadline. So you get your Christmas present in January, so what? In the same way, Valentine's Day can serve as an inspiration moment for ways you can impress your significant other at a later, less hectic time.
To that end, I'm suggesting five Detroit locations where you can make sexy-time with your love and where your surroundings will inspire greater enjoyment before, during or after that magical moment when two become one.
The Marriott at the Renaissance Center: You can't beat a room with a view for romance! The rooms themselves are pretty standard-issue hotel fare, although they're much improved since being redecorated several years back, but the view! If you've never done it while gazing in glassy-eyed ecstacy over the skyline of Detroit then, quite simply, you haven't done it at all.
?MGM Grand Casino Hotel: A well-done contemporary hotel room is hard to come by in Detroit, but the MGM Grand is the best of the bunch. They manage to not get too wacky while supplying an accessibly chic décor and sexy bathrooms (multiple shower heads, speakers in the shower, and a lovely soaking tub if you upgrade to the penthouse). As an added bonus, you can hit three of Detroit's finest restaurants without leaving the building, and the hotel spa & gym is possibly one of the best-kept secrets in the city. When it comes to luxury, it doesn't really get better in Detroit.
?Honor + Folly: If you prefer a little more self-reliance and an interior so of-the-moment no regular hotel could even attempt it, then this hip take on the bed & breakfast is for you. Located on the coolest block in Detroit, it lets you slip into a different life for a while, hob-nobbing with Detroit's indy elite downstairs at Sugar House or simply holing up like you're in a cabin in the urban woods. The fully-equipped kitchen lets you romance your sweetie with a home-made candlelit dinner for two, and the master bedroom comes with a great bathroom, a big deck (everyone loves a big deck) and I'm pretty sure a plaque that says “Phil Cooley did it here.”
?The Inn on Ferry Street: These refurbished homes are not only dripping with charm, each comes with a pedigree and stamp of authenticity, which will make lovers of historical Detroit hysterical with excitement. The Inn has done an outstanding job of balancing comfort with appropriate interiors, and the location in the Cultural Center provides plenty to keep the whole “Somewhere in Time” fantasy going. The entire package is sure to appeal to the romantic in your life, so be sure to bring champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries.
?The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit: Everyone knows a little risk can stoke the fires of passion, and Chrysler tells us that the hottest fires make the hardest steel, so why not have the most thrilling hook-up in America by doing it in the shadow of one of Detroit's many derelict buildings? This most democratic of romantic options requires no reservations, and, as you can see from this couple caught in flagrante delicto outside the AAA building on Bagley a few summers back, can take place literally anywhere in the city. My only caveats: you might want to wait until the weather gets a little warmer, and consider taking the expression “knock boots” literally to avoid tetanus.
—Kelly Ellsworth
· Downtown Detroit Marriott [Official]
· MGM Grand Hotel Detroit [Official]
· Honor + Folly [Official]
· The Inn on Ferry Street [Official]