One Detroit Center
Information
Location	500 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Michigan 48226  United States
Status	Complete
Constructed	1991-1993
Use	office
Height
Antenna/Spire	619.0 ft (188.7 m)
Roof	606.5 ft (184.9 m)
Top floor	578.1 ft (176.2 m)
Technical details
Floor count	43 (+2 underground)
Floor area	1,674,708 sq ft (155,585.5 m2)
Elevator count	22
Companies
Architect	Philip Johnson John Burgee

One Detroit Center, also known as Comerica Tower at Detroit Center after its tenant, is a skycraper located downtown in the the city's financial district (500 Woodward Ave. Detroit, Michigan 48226). Rising 619 feet (189 m), the 43-story tower is the tallest office building in Michigan, and the second tallest overall in the state behind the central hotel tower of the Renaissance Center, located a few blocks away. Although the Penobscot Building has more floors (45 above-ground floors compared to 43), One Detroit Center's floors are taller, with its roof sitting roughly 60 feet (18 m) taller than Penobscot's. Its floor area is 1,674,708 square feet (155,585 m²).^[1]

The building is occupied by tenant Comerica Bank which, in an effort to further expand, announced it would move its corporate headquarters to the Comerica Bank Tower in downtown Dallas, Texas in 2007, but maintain its presence in Michigan. The bank has engaged in a succession of takeovers in other states including Texas, Florida, and California. The bank's lease on Comerica Tower at Detroit Center runs through 2012.^[2]

[edit] Architecture

Comerica Tower from Fort St.

The building was designed by noted architects John Burgee & Philip Johnson, partners influential in postmodern architecture.^[3] One Detroit Center was constructed from 1991 to 1993. To form a stylistic link to the past, it was designed in a historicist fashion, with Flemish-inspired spires. Visitors to Detroit are often surprised to learn of the building's young age. It houses numerous other tenants, including many prominent Detroit law firms, and other banks. Some, however, have expressed concern over the building's lack of exterior lighting at night, in contrast to the easily identifiable orb of the nearby Penobscot Building. In addition to retail, the building also contains a restaurant.

The building is famous for its postmodern architectural design topped with neo-gothic spires.^[3] It uses a large amount of granite. Sometimes called a "twin gothic structure", for its pairs of spires, it is oriented North-South and East-West (as named on a plaque along the Windsor waterfront park). One Detroit Center won the Award of Excellence for its design in 1996. One Detroit Center replicas have become a souvenir item along with other Detroit skyscrapers.^[4]

A twin tower dubbed Two Detroit Center was proposed to be built directly east of the tower when the One Detroit Center was proposed, but a soft office market killed the plans, and Two Detroit Center was put on hold, indefinitely.

[edit] Photo gallery

View from Cadillac Square.

Comerica Tower has architectural accents similar to the Wayne County Building.

Comerica Tower from Woodward Avenue.

View from Larned Street.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• 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. 
• Meyer, Katherine Mattingly and Martin C.P. McElroy with Introduction by W. Hawkins Ferry, Hon A.I.A. (1980). Detroit Architecture A.I.A. Guide Revised Edition. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1651-4. 
• Sharoff, Robert (2005). American City: Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3270-6. 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: One Detroit Center

[edit] External links

• Offial Website, Comerica Tower at Detroit Center
• Comerica Tower at Emporis.com
• SkyscraperPage.com's Profile on Comerica Tower

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Coordinates: 42°19′48″N 83°2′42″W / 42.33°N 83.045°W / 42.33; -83.045