Architect and preservationist Doug McIntosh's efforts to help rebuild Detroit may be over, but his life partner will carry on his legacy.
"It's going to be my job now," said Scotty James, who was with McIntosh for eight and a half years.
McIntosh, 44, died July 11 at St. John's Detroit Riverview Hospital after suffering from a pulmonary embolism.
Several years ago, McIntosh moved to Detroit with James, manager of Materials Unlimited in Ypsilanti.
"He came out of nowhere and we were instantly connected," James said. "He's just so much a part of me that I can't really think about how it will be without him."
'A forward-looking visionary'
In April, the couple completed restoring the 1896 home of artist and sculptor Julius Melchers in historic West Village in Detroit, which was featured on the cover of Hour Detroit magazine shortly after they purchased it in 2001.
"The house is a real testament to everything he believed in," said Francis Grunow, executive director of Preservation Wayne, Detroit's oldest and largest nonprofit historic preservation organization.
Detroit Home magazine has been in the process of a full feature story on their house for a fall issue.
"Doug was such a bright spot in this city," Rebecca Powers, editor of Detroit Home, said in a statement. "Because he was a consummate professional, he was a forward-looking visionary without being a mindless booster. His sense of architectural design and interior style was impeccable. Examples of his work leave a legacy that belies his relative youth."
McIntosh served as a board member of Preservation Wayne for 12 years and as president of the board for the past four years.
"He was loved by so many people," Grunow said. "Aside from my own personal loss, there's also such a sad loss for so many people. The gay community is going to be at a loss, the preservation community is going to be at loss."
Restoration and renewal
As co-owner and co-founder of the award-winning architectural firm of McIntosh Poris Associates in Birmingham for 12 years, McIntosh helped restorate numerous vacant buildings in Detroit.
McIntosh Poris Associates has been responsible for the Lafayette East Master Plan for Messiah Housing, the conversion of the five-story Eureka Building into residential lofts, Small Plates restaurant, and renovations at the Michigan Opera Theater building and the Madison Theater building.
"Doug was continuously optimistic and upbeat about Detroit's future and dedicated an enormous amount of time with Preservation Wayne as its board president, committed to bringing about positive change and renewal of the city," Grunow said. "He only talked about the future. He only talked about what could be in the possibilities. He was a real big picture kind of thinker."
Steamworks a passionate project
Brian Short commissioned McIntosh Poris Associates to create Steamworks, an 11,000-square-foot full-service bathhouse for Toronto's gay community that would serve as a protoype for the company's future clubs. Steamworks was completed in 2005.
Before McIntosh's death, there were plans to open more outlets across the U.S., his publicist, Julie Taylor, said.
"He felt it was a place that men could go to be together, to learn, to support each other and to find pleasure in their world," Taylor said. "The upscale and architectural design – as well as the educational and outreach services – separate this from other bathhouses, and really make it a haven. He would speak so passionately about this project, and what a special place it is."
Grunow would like McIntosh to be remembered "as a good person. As someone who gave his whole being to something. As a tireless advocate for the city that he loved. And as a friend."
