The story
The Union Trust Company, founded in Detroit in 1890 by Senator James McMillan, needed more space, and between 1928 and 1929 it put up this 496-foot tower. The designer was Wirt C. Rowland of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, who clad it in a specially formulated brick shade he called "Guardian brick" and gave it a three-story vaulted lobby lined with Pewabic and Rookwood tile.
The timing was bad. The Great Depression hit Detroit and the bank hard, and by 1932 the building was in receivership. During World War II the Army used it as a command center for coordinating ordnance production. Later tenants and owners included MichCon and the Sterling Group, and Wayne County now owns it.
Everything that was here
- 1929–present · still open
Guardian BuildingOffice Building
Detroit's "Cathedral of Finance" was finished in 1929 for the Union Trust Company, and within three years the Depression had pushed the property into receivership.
See the map in 1930 →
Did you know?
Connected places
The Thaxton Event Venue
AC Hotel by Marriott (planned)
Penobscot Building
Bon-Air Cafe and Country Club
Coral Court Motel
Rossi's Sinclair Station
Explore the full web of connections on the map.
Nearby history
Grand Trunk Pub
Penobscot Building
Caucus Club
Fort Pontchartrain Hotel
Great Lakes Crossing
Kern's Department Store
Know something about Guardian Building? An old photo, a date, a memory of what stood here before?
Add it on the map