Timeline of Tallest Buildings
This lists buildings that once held the title of tallest building in Detroit. For most of Detroit's earlier years, the tallest buildings in the city were churches and government buildings with their steeples. The first skyscraper in the city is usually regarded to be the Hammond Building, completed in 1889. However, since the 10-story building did not surpass the steeple of the Fort Street Presbyterian Church, it never became a city record holder. The first skyscraper to have the distinction of being Detroit's tallest building was the Ford Building, completed in 1909.
| Name | Street address | Years as tallest | Height |
Floors | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Michigan State Capitol | Capitol Park | 1828–1866 | 140 / 43 | 2 | |
| Most Holy Trinity Church | 1050 Porter Street | 1866–1871 | 170 / 52 | 1 | |
| Former Detroit City Hall | Campus Martius Park | 1871–1877 | 200 / 61 | 4 | |
| St. Joseph Church | 1828 Jay Street | 1873–1877 | 200 / 61 | 1 | |
| Fort Street Presbyterian Church | 631 West Fort Street | 1877–1909 | 265 / 81 | 1 | |
| Ford Building | 615 Griswold Street | 1909–1913 | 275 / 84 | 19 | |
| Penobscot Building Annex | 144 West Congress Street | 1913 | 310 / 95 | 23 | |
| Chrysler House | 719 Griswold Street | 1913–1924 | 324 / 99 | 23 | |
| Book-Cadillac Hotel | 220 Michigan Avenue | 1924–1925 | 349 / 106 | 29 | |
| Buhl Building | 535 Griswold Street | 1925–1926 | 366 / 112 | 29 | |
| Book Tower | 1265 Washington Boulevard | 1926–1928 | 475 / 145 | 38 | |
| Penobscot Building | 633 Griswold Street | 1928–1977 | 565 / 172 | 47 | |
| Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center | 1 Renaissance Center Drive | 1977–present | 727 / 222 | 73 |
Read more about this topic: List Of Tallest Buildings In Detroit
Famous quotes containing the words tallest and/or buildings:
“But not the tallest there, ‘tis said,
Could fathom to this pond’s black bed.”
—Edmund Blunden (1896–1974)
“The American who has been confined, in his own country, to the sight of buildings designed after foreign models, is surprised on entering York Minster or St. Peter’s at Rome, by the feeling that these structures are imitations also,—faint copies of an invisible archetype.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)