The story
Construction began in 1926 and the Eaton Tower was finished in 1928 at Woodward Avenue and Witherell Street on Grand Circus Park. Louis Kamper, who also designed the Book-Cadillac Hotel, was the architect. The 34-story building was the second-tallest in Michigan when completed, and its floodlit top floors inspired the slogan a beauty by day, a jewel by night.
Insurance broker David Broderick bought it and renamed it, in 1944 or 1945 by different accounts. The Flaming Embers restaurant on the ground floor was popular from the 1950s until 1993. The tower was vacant from 1988 and deteriorated, and a Wyland whale mural covered its rear facade from 1997 to 2006.
Motown Construction Partners LLC obtained funding in 2010, and the building reopened on November 2, 2012, with restored interiors.
What's There Now
The building has office and commercial space on the lower floors and 124 apartments above.
Everything that was here
- 2012–present · still open
Broderick Tower ApartmentsResidential
A 34-story tower built as the Eaton Tower, once the second-tallest building in Michigan, sat vacant for years before reopening with apartments in 2012.
See the map in 2013 → - 1928–1985
Broderick Tower (Offices)Office Building
Built as the Eaton Tower in 1928, it stood empty for 27 years with a humpback whale painted on its back wall.
See the map in 1929 →
Did you know?
Connected places
Baker's Keyboard Lounge
Bon-Air (William Johnson Era)
The Maxime Supper Club
AC Hotel by Marriott (planned)
Vanity Ballroom
Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel
Explore the full web of connections on the map.
Nearby history
Detroit Beer Co
Aloft Detroit at David Whitney
Capitol Theatre / Detroit Opera House
Park Shelton Apartments
Stroh Brewery
Cliff Bell's (Revival)
Know something about Broderick Tower Apartments? An old photo, a date, a memory of what stood here before?
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