Conceived by Henry Ford II and financed primarily by the Ford Motor Company, the Renaissance Center became the world's largest private development with an anticipated 1971 cost of $500 million. In part, civic leaders intended this ambitious urban renewal project to quell the white flight which followed social unrest from the 12th Street riot in 1967. The project was intended to revitalize the economy of Detroit. In 1970, Ford Motor Company Chairman Henry Ford II teamed up to form Detroit Renaissance, a private non-profit development organization, which he headed in order to stimulate building activity in areas of Detroit that had been severely impacted. The group announced the first phase of construction in 1971. In addition, Detroit Renaissance contributed to a variety of other projects within the downtown area in the ensuing decades. Henry Ford II sold the concept of the Ren-Cen to the City and community leaders. Detroit mayor Roman Gribbs touted the project as "a complete rebuilding from bridge to bridge," referring to the area between the Ambassador Bridge that connected Detroit to Windsor, Canada and the MacArthur Bridge, which connects the city with Belle Isle Park.

The "city within a city" began to rise. The first tower opened on July 1, 1976. In 1977, the central hotel tower of the Renaissance Center, which opened as a Westin Hotel, became the world's tallest all-hotel skyscraper, surpassing its architectural twin, the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta. When it opened, the cylindrical central tower was originally the flagship of the Westin Hotels. The top three floors of the hotel hosted an upscale restaurant, The Summit, that rotated to allow a 360 degree view.

In 1987 the elevated-rail mass transit Detroit People Mover, after many years of construction, began operation with a stop at the Renaissance Center. The forbidding concrete berms located in front of the building carried most of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment for the complex.

At first, the Ford Motor Company had occupied many offices in the building. In 1996, General Motors purchased the complex and moved its world headquarters to the Renaissance Center downtown from the New Center area. In 1996, GM initially paid $73 million to owner Highgate Hotels in Texas. By 2003, GM had completed an extensive $500 million renovation of the Renaissance Center in 2003, and included the work of many different architects including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of Chicago, SmithGroup of Detroit, Gensler Detroit office, and Ghafari Associates of Dearborn. This included a $100 million makeover for the hotel. Among GM's first actions was to remove the berms facing Jefferson Avenue. The renovation includes a lighted glass walkway called the "green ring" for its green lights; it circles the mezzanine to make the complex easy to navigate.

GM's bold vision for it's renovation addressed some major short comings of the original John Portman design. The renovations addressed building's orignal urban solitude, difficult circulation, and created a badly needed connection to the river. Each of the renovation features successively draw the visitor deeper into the building eventually leading them to the Detroit River.

articles:
How the Renaissance Center changed the landscape of Detroit
Architectural Record
Metropolis

GM Lobby & Pavilion
A new entry, combined with the removed berms, both identifies this as GM's World Headquarters and attempts to re-integrate the building with the rest of downtown. The new plaza is marked with extensive landscaping and green area including red oak and honey locust trees, flagpoles, exterior accent lighting, and a granite staircase that leads up to the 45 feet high, and nearly 100 feet long, glass ellipsoidal pavilion entrance composed of stainless steel, glass and marble. Nighttime lighting is employed to illuminate the plaza and the pavilion. From the pavilion, employees and visitors can progress from the new lobby all the way to GM Wintergarden making a visual and physical connection from Jefferson Avenue to the riverfront.

"Borealis" Glass Sculpture
Artist Danny Lane's elegant but massive glass sculpture, Borealis, seems to be the perfect solution for animating the main lobby of Detroit's GM Renaissance Center.  Located in the north entrance lobby, the two giant glass walls form the world's largest glass sculpture.

Borealis comprises two enormous walls of undulating glass that measure 47 and 50 feet long, and weigh nearly 50,000 pounds each. A single wall contains about 1,100 43-pound panels of annealed float glass 4 inches wide, 1-1⁄2 inches thick and 22-1⁄2 feet long. The panels stand on end side-by-side and lean at different angles up to 7-1⁄2 degrees from center to create a wave effect. If laid end-to-end, the panels would extend 9.4 miles.

Borealis offers a dramatic greeting to thousands of visitors who enter the Renaissance Center every day and funnels them toward the center of the building. The rippling curtains of luminous green glass refract light and images. As one walks through, objects on the opposite side disappear then reappear in single and multiple shapes.

Circulation Ring
The circulation ring, suspended above the original Piranesi-like system of walkways, bridges, and alcoves, creates a very simple main circulation spine connecting all the main portions of the building.  In addition to providing a simplified circulation pattern, the ring contrasts the existing massiveness of the concrete with the sophisticated introduction of light, modern materials of steel and glass.  The illuminated glass walkway supported by inobtrusive metal cables, seems to hover in mid-air above the rest of the bulding's confusing walkways

GM Wintergarden
The insertion of the Wintergarden helps orient visitors by creating open views of the Detroit River and Windsor beyond. The five-story Wintergarden, which sweeps out to the new riverfront promenade, invites visitors into its clean open space and beckons them to continue to the GM Plaza & Promenade.

GM Plaza & Promenade
Once covered with a parking garage and covered roadway, this section of the riverfront has been reclaimed and now features a granite world map, synchronized water fountain, and a playful grove of trees alongside the riverfront Promenade, which continues east and west along the Detroit River. The Wintergarden serves as a backdrop to this vital piece of the Detroit Riverfront.

data:
Year Built: 1991 - 1993
Architect: John Burgee & Phillip Johnson
Style: Modern

history:
Formerly known as the One Detroit Center, the Comerica Tower was the last great skyscraper built in Detroit. While some have branded it postmodern, it is more appropriately identified as historicist with gothic inspired detailing and extensive use of granite.

Almost as if creating an entry portal for an enormous modern gothic church, 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; a fate well known to the Fisher brothers. A parking deck now sits on the planned site.

data:
Year Built: 1915
Architect: Albert Kahn
Style: Renaissance

history:
Albert Kahn was influenced by Rome's Palazzo Farnese and other Renaissance works he discovered during his 1912 tour of Italy when he designed this dignified structure for Detroit's auto elite.

links:
Official Site

Articles:
Detroit News Archive

719 Griswold

Year Built: 1910

Architect: Daniel Burnham

Style: Neo-Classical

Originally known as the Dime Savings Bank Building, this building was one of three remaining buildings designed by one the most celebrated architects at the time.

data:
Year Built: 1925
Architect: Wirt C. Rowland (Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls)
Style: Neo-Gothic

history:
The Buhl Building was Detroit's first skyscraper and was the first of many prominent buildings designed by Wirt Rowland during his tenure at Smith, Hinchman & Grylls.

The architectural sculpture on the building was designed by Corrado Parducci.

Style: Art Deco

history:
The Guardian Building, a National Historic Landmark, is a skyscraper in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Built in 1928 and finished in 1929, the building (originally called the Union Trust Building) is a bold example of Art Deco architecture, including some art moderne designs. Covering an entire city block, the main frame of the skyscraper rises 36 stories, capped by two asymmetric spires, one extending for four additional stories. The height of the building is 489 feet (149 m). The exterior blends brickwork with tile, limestone, and terra cotta. Nicknamed the "Cathedral of Finance," the building's interior is lavishly decorated with mosaic and Pewabic and Rookwood tile. Native American themes are common inside and outside the building. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and has undergone recent award-winning renovations. Wirt C. Rowland, of the Smith Hinchman & Grylls firm, was the building's architect while Corrado Parducci created the two sculptures flanking the Griswold Street entrance. During World War II, the Guardian Building served as headquarters for war time production; Detroit was called the "Arsenal of Democracy."

The building was purchased by Sterling Group in 2004. Under the Group's watch, the Guardian's office occupancy rate has nearly doubled, its promenade has been opened to the public for the first time in decades, and the building now has a doorman. Since this time the building has received exterior lighting accents at night and a new entrance canopy.

At the top of the Guardian Building's spire, is a huge American Flag, similar to the four smaller flags sitting atop nearby 150 West Jefferson.

links:
Official Website
National Register Entry

address:

611 Woodward Avenue

data:

Year Built: 1959

Architect: Albert Kahn Associates

Style: Modern

history:

Like most bank buildings, the currently named Chase Tower has also been known as the The National Bank of Detroit and Bank One Building. The building occupies to former site of the oddly shaped ten-story Hammond Building, which was the first skyscraper in Detroit to employ a steel structural system.

data:
Year Built: 1929
Architect: Donaldson and Meier
Style: Art Deco

history:
Located at the corner of Griswold and State Street, this building incorporates brick, marble (on the first three floors from the street), and limestone as its surface materials. As with many of the other Detroit buildings of the era it contains architectural sculpture by Corrado Parducci.

This building shares alot of similarities with Eliel Saarinen's 1922 competition entry for the Chicago Tribune Building.  Both buildings taper as they rise via a series of setbacks and both towers were nearly devoid of any ornamentation - a clear indicator of the forthcoming modern skyscraper.

history:
In 1923, it opened as one of the largest office buildings in the world. Originally, it was known as the General Motors Building since it had housed the company's world headquarters from 1923 until 1996. In 1996, GM moved its world headquarters to the Renaissance Center and sold the magnificent building which is leased by the State of Michigan on a long term basis. Designed by noted architect Albert Kahn, Cadillac Place consists of four parallel 15-story wings connected together by a central backbone perpendicular to them. Kahn used this design to allow sunlight and natural ventilation to reach each of the building's hundreds of individual offices. In 2002, the State of Michigan thoroughly renovated the building and renamed it Cadillac Place. It houses State offices for the Detroit area and a State Court of Appeals.