Chrysler House

Chrysler House is a 23-story, 99 m (325 ft) skyscraper located at 719 Griswold Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. The class-A office building is adjacent to the Penobscot Building in the heart of the U.S. designated Detroit Financial District. It is used as an office building, with retail space on the street level.

Chrysler House
Alternative namesGriswold Place
Dime Savings Bank Building
Commonwealth Building
General information
TypeCommercial offices
Location719 Griswold Street
Detroit, Michigan
Coordinates42.331063°N 83.04832°W / 42.331063; -83.04832
Completed1912
Renovated2002
Height
Roof99 m (325 ft)
Technical details
Floor count23
Design and construction
ArchitectDaniel Burnham
Renovating team
ArchitectBarton Malow
Chrysler House
Architectural styleNeo-Classical
Part ofDetroit Financial District (ID09001067)
Designated CPDecember 14, 2009
References
[1][2][3]

History

The building was constructed between 1910 and 1912[4] and known for many years as the Dime Building. When completed, the tower was named the Dime Savings Bank Building for its primary tenant. It was later renamed the Commonwealth Building, briefly known as Griswold Place. It became the Dime Building again in 2002, before being renamed in 2012.

The original Lincoln Highway Association national headquarters occupied office 2115 on the 21st floor from 1913 to 1928.

For several years through 1983, the building housed the headquarters of Bank of the Commonwealth until the bank merged with Comerica. In 2002, a $40-million renovation was completed.[5]

In August 2011, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert purchased the building along with the nearby Qube, First National Building and Wright-Kay Building.[6]

Doors inside the Chrysler House

On April 30, 2012, Gilbert and Chrysler Group LLC chairman Sergio Marchionne announced that Chrysler will move its Great Lakes Business Center and some executive offices, with approximately 70 employees, into the two top floors of the building. As part of the lease, the building was renamed for the company.[7]

Architecture

The tower was designed in the Neoclassical architectural style by Daniel Burnham.[8][9] The steel-framed structure is faced with white glazed brick and terra cotta trim. The most distinctive feature is the central light court which begins on the third floor and creates a U-shaped floor plan on the upper office floors.[8] This feature can be seen in an earlier version on Burnham's Miner's National Bank Building, now Citizens Bank financial Center, completed one year earlier in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Miner's National Bank is a similar, but smaller-scale design with the main banking hall in the space below the light court and featuring a large skylight. A later expansion of the building altered the U-shape of the upper floors.[10]

In a subsequent renovation, the lower two floors were refaced with gray granite and a pediment above the central entrance and cornice were removed.

  • Construction of the Dime Building. August 31, 1912
  • Exterior. December 31, 1912
  • Interior, c. 1912
  • Penobscot Building left, with the Chrysler House

See also

Media related to Dime Building at Wikimedia Commons

References
  1. Chrysler House at Emporis
  2. "Chrysler House". SkyscraperPage.
  3. Chrysler House at Structurae
  4. Dime Building. Historic Detroit. Retrieved on April 21, 2016.
  5. Dime Building. Detroit Historical Society. Retrieved on April 21, 2016.
  6. Michael Wayland (27 December 2011). "Dan Gilbert scoops up three more downtown Detroit buildings, fourth on the way". Grand Rapids Press. mlive.com. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  7. David Kiley (30 April 2012). "Chrysler's Dime Building Move A Strong Symbol Of Detroit Commitment". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
  8. Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3. P. 90.
  9. Sharoff, Robert (2005). American City: Detroit Architecture, 1845-2005. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3270-6. P. 25.
  10. "Citizens Bank Financial Center". Emporis. Retrieved 2013-03-29.

Further reading
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