During the roaring ’20s, when Detroit became the fourth largest city in the country largely due to the burgeoning auto industry, the skyline was rapidly transformed by stunning office skyscrapers, beginning with the 27-story Buhl Building. It opened 100 years ago, on May 1, 1925, at the corner of Griswold and Congress in the financial district, replacing a demolished four-story structure of the same name built in 1868 — by Frederick and Christian Buhl — over Savoyard Creek and a portion of Fort Shelby.
The “new” Buhl is a magnificent neo-Gothic structure with Romanesque accents, clad in cream-colored terra-cotta and adorned with figures sculpted by Corrado Parducci. The first four stories of the 390,000-square-foot building have a rectangular footprint, while the fifth through 26th floors form a Latin cross, allowing for more natural light and eight corner suites on each floor.
The project was financed by a third generation of Buhls. The lead architect was Wirt C. Rowland — of the firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls — who later designed the Penobscot (1928) and Guardian (1929) buildings. Other skyscrapers that soon graced downtown include the Book Tower (1926), Cadillac Tower (1927), Broderick Tower (1928), and David Stott Building (1929).
Two things longtime Detroiters may recall about the Buhl Building are The Savoyard Club, an elegant private club for businessmen located on the top floor from 1928 until 1994, and the tragedy that took place on June 11, 1982. On that day, a disgruntled law firm client shot and killed an intern, wounded five others, and set fire to the firm’s eighth-floor office. Thirty-eight people were injured, including two attorneys who jumped four floors to safety onto a landing.
Thankfully, more-recent headlines are tamer by comparison — including the sale of the building in December 2017 to businessman Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock.
This story originally appeared in the July 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition. Plus, find even more The Way It Was articles at hourdetroit.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
