- Wirt C. Roland, 1928
- National Register listed (as “Detroit Financial District”) December 14, 2009
This iconic Detroit building was designed by Wirt C. Rowland prior to building the magnificent Guardian Building just a few blocks away.
When completed this was the fifth highest building in the world. A simple H-shaped plan base rises 30 stories, after which it is gradually reduced through a series of setbacks as it reaches its apex 47 stories above the ground.
The Griswold entrance is dramatically marked by a three-story window inset with Art Deco detailing. Brass insets over the entrance door use a decorative motif now called “zigzag deco,” and even include stylized Native American heads in an Art Deco style.
The second floor originally contained a three-story banking office. Window spandrels between the second and third floor and within the arch contain a Native American bust surrounded by a notched arched molding that would be repeated in Rowland’s Guardian Building two years later.
As an interesting aside, the Penobscot Indians are not native to Michigan, but to the state of Maine where the Murphy family originated who built and originally owned the Penobscot Building.
The first three stories of the exterior are clad with mahogany-colored granite with gray limestone above. A cleaning and restoration of the façade in 2000 brought a new appreciation for the building.
Photo Credit: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library
