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The David Whitney Building is a historic class-A
skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...
located at 1 Park Avenue (1550
Woodward Avenue A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...
from 1921 to 2014), on the northern edge of
Downtown Detroit Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, downtown tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Lodge Freeway) to the west, Interstate 75 ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
, within the Grand Circus Park Historic District. The building stands on a wedge-shaped site at the junction of Park Avenue, Woodward Avenue, and Washington Boulevard. Construction on the 19-floor structure began in 1914.


History and description

The building is named for David Whitney Jr., a wealthy Detroiter who earned millions of dollars as a lumber baron dealing in white pine; his father was said to be the employer of
Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the o ...
. The structure was designed by Graham, Burnham & Co., the successor firm to the D.H. Burnham Company. It may be said that the building was designed in the "Daniel Burnham style", or perhaps, "inspired by Daniel Burnham". The first assertion that
Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
himself designed the building was made in a 1950s press article about the building's modernization, probably a misreading (or embellishment). Burnham died in 1912, two years before the project was announced, and no contemporary record gives any indication that he was involved with the design of the building prior to his death. The exterior was originally styled with clean lines in a
Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...
style faced with
terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
and glazed brick. The original
façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...
was altered in 1959, when decorative cornices were replaced with a 'modern' top. The first four stories of this building contain a large retail atrium. It was one of Detroit's first major mixed-use projects and was a popular location for many medical offices. The ''
Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. History and content Supported entirely by advertising, it is distribute ...
'', an early
alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...
, was once published from offices in the highrise. There are 19 floors housing office and retail space with a two-story mechanical penthouse at the rear of the building. The
Detroit People Mover The Detroit People Mover (DPM) is a elevated automated people mover system in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The system operates in a one-way loop on a single track encircling downtown Detroit, using Intermediate Capacity Transit System ...
's Grand Circus Park station is located at the first and second floors of this building. The David Whitney Building stands across Woodward Avenue from the David Broderick Tower. The building is visible from the Detroit People Mover, as well as
Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, the Tigers had played at the c ...
. Together with the adjacent Broderick Tower, it forms a "gateway" of sorts to downtown Detroit when viewed from the north.


Renovation

In January 2011, the Detroit Downtown Development Authority approved a $1 million loan to help Whitney Partners LLC purchase and renovate the building. Their plan included creating a mixed-use building and restoring the decorative exterior elements that were removed in 1959 and the four-story lobby. The purchase was completed in March and the new owners sought additional funding and tax credits to finance their plans for a boutique hotel, apartments and retail. In December 2011, plans moved another step when the partnership announced it signed an agreement with
Aloft Hotels Aloft Hotels is a hotel chain based in North America, owned by Marriott International. The first hotel opened at the Trudeau International Airport in Montreal in 2008.
to operate the 136-room hotel. The hotel occupies floors three through nine of the building with 105 high-end apartment units on floors ten and above. The $92 million renovation began in March 2013 and was completed in December 2014. In May 2022 owner, The Roxbury Group, announced another renovation which would redesign the hotel's 136 current rooms and convert apartments on the tenth and eleventh floors into 24 additional rooms leaving 80 apartment units on floors 12-19. In addition, the hotel will drop the ''Aloft'' branding to become part of Marriott's ''
Autograph Collection Autograph Collection is a group of independent upper-upscale to luxury hotels within the Marriott International portfolio. The properties are independently owned and operated under the Autograph Collection name. History To grow in the post-2008 ...
''. Owners also plan to upgrade the lobby bar and create a restaurant in what is now event space.


See also

* David Broderick Tower * Grand Circus Park Historic District


References


Further reading

* * * * *


External links

*
Aloft DetroitGoogle Maps location of the David Whitney Building
* * {{Downtown Detroit Residential skyscrapers in Detroit Downtown Detroit Apartment buildings in Michigan Skyscraper hotels in Detroit Office buildings in Detroit Office buildings completed in 1915 Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Historic district contributing properties in Michigan 1915 establishments in Michigan Renaissance Revival architecture in Michigan