The Ford Building is a
high-rise office building
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...
located at 615
Griswold Street
Griswold Street is a major north-south street in downtown Detroit, which passes through the city's Financial District lined with many of its most familiar and recognizable structures, such as the Guardian Building and One Woodward Avenue. Griswold ...
in
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
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 the ...
. It stands at the northwest corner of Congress and Griswold Streets, in the heart of Detroit's
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
. The
Penobscot Building
The Greater Penobscot Building, commonly known as the Penobscot Building, is a class-A office tower in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Constructed in 1928, the Art Deco building is located in the heart of the Detroit Financial District. The Penobsc ...
abuts the building to the north, and the
Guardian Building
The Guardian Building is a landmark skyscraper in the United States, located at 500 Griswold Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Financial District. The Guardian is a class-A office building owned by Wayne County, Michigan and serves ...
is southeast across Griswold Street.
Toledo, Ohio, glass manufacturer Edward Ford and his son, John B. Ford, general manager of the Fords' Wyandotte, Michigan, alkali plant, had this building—then Detroit's tallest—constructed as an investment property.
Architecture
Designed by
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 ...
, the building began construction in 1907 and was completed in 1908. It celebrated its 100th year in 2009, and was one of the first to use a steel structural support system. It stands at 23 stories in total height, with two basement floors, 19 above-ground floors, and two penthouses. It held the title as
tallest building in Detroit from 1908 until 1913. The Ford Building's primary uses are for offices and
retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
. Burnham styled it with
Neo-Classical and
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 o ...
elements. It is constructed with a steel skeleton 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 ...
tile and accented with white Italian marble. Burham's other remaining skyscraper designs in Detroit include the
David Whitney Building
The David Whitney Building is a historic class-A skyscraper located at 1 Park Avenue (1550 Woodward Avenue from 1921 to 2014), on the northern edge of Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Grand Circus Park Historic District. The building stand ...
(1915) and the
Dime Building
Chrysler House is a 23-story, skyscraper located a719 Griswold Streetin Downtown Detroit, Michigan. The class-A office building is adjacent to the Penobscot Building in the heart of the U.S. designated Detroit Financial District. It is used as a ...
(1912).
See also
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Ford Building (San Diego, California)
The Ford Building, a Streamline Moderne structure in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, serves as the home of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The building was built by the Ford Motor Company for the California Pacific International Exposition, ...
References
Further reading
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External links
Ford Building Website
{{Buildings in Michigan timeline
Skyscraper office buildings in Detroit
Downtown Detroit
Ford Motor Company facilities
Historic district contributing properties in Michigan
National Register of Historic Places in Detroit
1900s architecture in the United States
Burnham and Root buildings
Chicago school architecture in Michigan
Neoclassical architecture in Michigan
Motor vehicle buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places
Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
Office buildings completed in 1908