David Whitney Building Local Historic District

The David Whitney Building Local Historic District consists only of the David Whitney Building, which faces Park Boulevard and spans from Woodward Avenue to Washington Boulevard. You can read details about the district and its building in the Proposed David Whitney Building Historic District Final Report (local copy), which I recommend highly to anyone interested in Detroit's history. A Wikipedia Page also describes the district.

Construction began on the 18-story David Whitney Building in 1914, and the building opened in January of 1915. Below are some exterior photos of the David Whitney Building.

The Woodward-facing side of the David Whitney Building

On the left is the Grinnell Building, 1515 Woodward, see Greetings From Detroit pg27. The center building is the Sanders Building, at 1529 Woodward, which was designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1912 with a white terracotta facade as the Fisher Arcade for the car company. Sanders bought the building in 1948 and opened their candy shop and ice cream parlor on the first two floors. Now it's an office building with retail on the ground floor. The reflection in its windows is of the David Broderick Tower. Next on the right is Himelhoch Apartments, at 1545 Woodward, built in 1901. The building was originally called the Washington Arcade Building and has facades on both Woodward Ave and Washington Blvd, with a ground-floor shopping arcade running through the building. In 1923, Himelhoch's upscale women's department store moved into the building. In 1982 it was converted into lower income senior apartments. See https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/washington-arcade-building The ground floor was closed today and is under renovation. Last on the right is the David Whitney Building.

David Whitney Building, Metropolitan Building with the David Broderick Tower behind it, and Wurlitzer Building, from the top of the Z Park Garage B parking lot at Library and Gratiot

The Lobby, which has an glass atrium ceiling, is quite beautiful and shown in the photos below.

Atrium of the David Whitney Building, Detroit, Michigan

Lobby and atrium of the David Whitney Building, Detroit, Michigan

The atrium in the David Whitney Building

Elevators in the David Whitney Building, Detroit, Michigan

The glass atrium, showing the 4-sided tower rising up toward the sky, is the real showpiece of this building.

Atrium of the David Whitney Building, Detroit, Michigan

More photos and more description of this building can be found at HistoricDetroit.org.