David Whitney Building

The David Whitney Building is a historic class-A skyscraper on the northern edge of downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is located at 1553 Woodward Avenue, adjacent to Grand Circus Park. 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. It is planned for redevelopment as an Aloft Hotel in 2014.

It 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. The building was designed by the firm 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 himself designed the building was made in a 1950s press article about the building's modernization, probably a misreading (or embellishment). Daniel Burnham died in 1912, 2 years before the project was announced in 1914, and no contemporary record gives any indication that Daniel Burnham was involved with the design of the building prior to his death.

Appropriately for Detroit, the exterior was originally styled with clean lines in a Neo-Renaissance style faced with terra cotta and glazed brick. The original facade 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 Detroit People Mover's Grand Circus Park station is located at the first and second floors of this building.

It stands across Woodward Avenue from the David Broderick Tower. The building is visible from the Detroit People Mover, as well as Comerica Park. Together with the adjacent Broderick Tower, it forms a "gateway" of sorts to downtown Detroit when viewed from the north. The Metro Times, an early alternative weekly, 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.

In January 2011, the Detroit Downtown Development Authority approved a $1 million loan to help Whitney Partners purchase and renovate the building. Their plan includes creating a mixed-use building and restoring the decorative exterior elements that were removed in 1959 and the four-story lobby. The partnership is still finalizing plans and financing for the project. 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 the Aloft division of Starwood Hotels to operate the 136-room hotel. The hotel would occupy the floors two through nine of the building with 108 condominium units on floors ten and above to open in 2014.