| Penobscot Building | |
|---|---|
 Penobscot Building seen from Campus Martius Park in 2007 | |
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| Alternative names | City National Bank Building Penobscot Building - 47 Tower |
| General information | |
| Type | Commercial offices |
| Location | 645 Griswold Street Detroit, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 42°19′49″N 83°02′51″W / 42.33041°N 83.0475°W |
| Construction started | 1927 |
| Completed | 1928 |
| Owner | Triple Group Of Companies |
| Management | Triple Properties Detroit |
| Height | |
| Antenna spire | 202.4 m (664 ft) |
| Roof | 172.2 m (565 ft) |
| Top floor | 159.4 m (523 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | above ground: 47 below ground: 2 |
| Floor area | 1,258,900 sq ft (116,960 m2) |
| Lifts/elevators | 25 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Wirt C. Rowland Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Donaldson and Meier |
Greater Penobscot Building | |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| Part of | Detroit Financial District (ID09001067) |
| Designated CP | December 14, 2009 |
| References | |
| [1][2][3] | |
The Greater Penobscot Building, commonly known as the Penobscot Building, is a class-A office tower in Downtown Detroit, Michigan.[4] Constructed in 1928, the Art Deco building is located in the heart of the Detroit Financial District. The Penobscot is a hub for the city's wireless Internet zone and fiber-optic network.
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Upon completion, the Penobscot Building was the eighth-tallest building in the world, the fourth-tallest in the United States[5] and the tallest outside of New York and Chicago.[6][7] Rising 566 feet (173 m), the 47-story Penobscot was the tallest building in Michigan from its completion in 1928 until construction of the Renaissance Center hotel tower in 1977. Ally Detroit Center (formerly One Detroit Center) surpassed the Penobscot as the tallest office building in Detroit upon its completion in 1993. The framing elevation drawing of this building shows a height of 562.166 ft (171.348 m) to the highest roof, approximately 565.75 ft (172.44 m) to the parapet wall around the roof, and 654.166 ft (199.390 m) to the top of the warning beacon atop the antenna.
The Penobscot has 45 above-ground floors and two basement levels, for a total floor count of 47. Although the Penobscot Building has more floors than Ally Detroit Center (45 above-ground floors compared to 43 for Ally Detroit Center), the floors and spires of One Detroit are taller, with its roof sitting roughly 60 ft (18 m) higher than that of the Penobscot.
The building is named for the Penobscot River in Maine. The building was named by Simon J. Murphy, President of the Simon J. Murphy Company. Murphy named the building from his association with lumbering in the Maine woods and on the Penobscot River in Maine.[8] Motifs in art deco style ornamentation is used on the exterior and the interiors. The following version of the choice of the name of the building is found in an undated publication believed to have been published concurrent with the building's dedication in 1928:
The architect Wirt C. Rowland, of the prominent Smith Hinchman & Grylls firm based in Detroit, designed the Penobscot in an elaborate Art Deco style in 1928. Clad in Indiana Limestone with a granite base, it rises like a sheer cliff for thirty stories, then has a series of setbacks culminating in a red neon beacon tower. Like many of the city's other Roaring Twenties buildings, it displays Art Deco influences, including its "H" shape (designed to allow maximum sunlight into the building) and the sculptural setbacks that cause the upper floors to progressively "erode".
The opulent Penobscot is one of many buildings in Detroit that features architectural sculpture by Corrado Parducci. The ornamentation includes American Indian motifs, particularly in the entrance archway and in metalwork found in the lobby. At night, the building's upper floors are lit in floodlight fashion, topped with a red sphere.
The building's architect, Wirt C. Rowland, also designed other Detroit skyscrapers, such as the Guardian Building and the Buhl Building, in the same decade.
The tower is also connected to two older and smaller buildings, the 1905 Penobscot Building and the Penobscot Building Annex (1916). Together, the buildings comprise the Penobscot Block, located at Griswold Street and West Fort Street. The Greater Penobscot was the last portion of the complex to be developed.
On holidays, both the Penobscot Building and the nearby One Woodward Avenue light-up for the night, with red, white and blue for Independence Day and Canada Day; and red, white and green for the Christmas season. In addition, during the Christmas season, the Penobscot Building's radio broadcast tower is illuminated bright gold, to resemble a giant glowing Christmas tree topped with a flashing red beacon. The Penobscot Building has become a souvenir item along with other Detroit skyscrapers.[9]
The first televisions in Michigan were sold in the retail space on the Griswold level of this building.[citation needed]
For a period of time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was renamed the City National Bank Building, after its major tenant. When City National was acquired by another bank and renamed, the historic Penobscot name was revived.
The Penobscot Building is a contributing property in the Detroit Financial Historic District, and on the National Register of Historic Places.
| Architectural details by Corrado Parducci
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