The Greater Penobscot Building (usually called simply "The Penobscot Building" is a steel-frame forty-seven-story skyscraper faced in granite and terra cotta, built in 1927-29. The architect was Wirt C. Rowland of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, who was responsible for three of the five skyscrapers which constitute Detroit's financial district: Greater Penobscot, Buhl (1925), and Guardian (1929) buildings. The Ford Building (1909) and Dime Building (1912) were both designed by Daniel Burnham. Corrado G. Parducci was the sculptor for the Greater Penobscot Building. This is the third and largest component of a cluster of buildings that all bear the Penobscot name (see entries for 131 W. Fort and 140-50 W. Congress), named after the Penobscot River in Maine, which was named after the Penawapskewi American Indians of Maine and Canada. The 1928 Greater Penobscot Building connects to the 1905 and 1916 Penobscot Buildings via a hallway and staircase to the west side of the property.
Standing at the corner of West Fort Street and Griswold, the Penobscot building fills the site to the alley to the south. The building is square in plan in its six-story base but then front and back light courts give the upper stories an H-shaped form almost to the top. This structure was the final addition to the Penobscot Buildings (2nd, 3rd and 4th photos below), and was the tallest building in Michigan for fifty years, until the Renaissance Center's 73-story hotel tower was completed in 1977. The Indiana limestone walls rise unimpeded to the top of the thirtieth story from a base of gray granite to a series of setbacks that terminate in an apex surmounted by a red neon beacon. The last 2 photos in this group illustrate the cubist effect of the Greater Penobscot Building.
A grand 4-story mahogany granite entrance archway greets the visitor on Griswold Street (1st photo below). The doors are shown in the 2nd photo below. The brass insert above each of the 4 doors contain American Indians in art deco style (3rd photo below). The Griswold 3-story window is inset with art deco detailing as shown in the 4th through 6th photos below. With the grand 4-story entrance, Rowland introduced a second theme to contrast with the building's cubist effect - the half-round arch, which may be seen in various sizes all over the building's exterior. The half-round is introduced at the building's entrance, where the front doors are framed by half-round granite columns (2nd photo below), three of which are topped by carved downward-facing round features (also 2nd photo below). Above the entrance is a massive half-round archway (1st photo below) that frames individual windows, the uppermost in each grouping of six panes has a half-round top (also 1st photo below). We'll encounter more of these arches later. In 1929 the building's lower stories housed the Guardian Trust Company, Guardian Detroit Bank, and Guardian Safe Deposit Company, and the offices of the Guardian Detroit Group holding company. From 1933 to 1944 the Manufacturers National Bank of Detroit occupied the main second-floor banking space. Within the broad panel of granite above the doors of the Griswold Street entrance (2nd photo below) appear the words "Penobscot Building." However, the original granite panel contained an etched frieze depicting the signing of a treaty between settlers and Native Americans. In 1972, the building's name was changed to "City National Bank Building" and the panel was replaced by one carrying the new name. When City National Bank became First of America Bank around 1982, the original name of the building was reinstated and the words "Penobscot Building," in a typeface similar to the original, returned to the panel, but the frieze did not.
The entire Griswold Street face of the Greater Penobscot Building is shown in the 1st photo below. The lower 7 floors are shown in detail in the 2nd photo below. Above the grand 4-story entrance and archway is the premiere ornamentation of the building, an art deco Native American chief with feathers streaming down, forming the keystone of that entrance (3rd through 5th photos below). A half-round arch is right above him. On either side of that Native American is a whirling wind symbol, which looks a bit like a backward swastika (6th and 7th photos below), and is a Native American symbol. Native American figures also decorate the interior in the travertine marble of the main floor lobby and metalwork of the elevator doors. The large design on the lobby floor is composed of cut marble in a variety of shades and shapes. The central starburst-like pattern is surrounded by four stylized whirling wind or swastika symbols. The organ-pipe decorations above the 7th floor in the 2nd photo below were not seen in architecture before this building, and seem to have been invented by Rowland. He used them again in the Detroit Saturday Night Building. The zig-zag band between the 5th and 6th floors was used even during ancient times. But have a look at the grooves at each edge of the building, starting just below that zig-zag band. They appear on each side of the building, and are inlaid with slate, the darker color of which helps these recessed features contrast with the lighter surrounding limestone. They extend up to just below the first setback at the 31st floor, at which point new grooves begin.
Spandrels between the 2nd and 3rd floor windows on the Griswold side are shown in the 1st through 3rd photos below. Flagpole details are shown in the 4th through 6th photos below. The relationship of several of these photos on the building is shown in the 7th photo below, which also shows a half-round arch.
Above the base containing the lobby and shops on the first floor and banking quarters in the first five floors, an H-shaped floor plan accommodates office space. Above the 7th floor, the Greater Penobscot is starkly devoid of exterior decoration. A series of setbacks beginning at the 31st floor ascend in a masterly cubistic composition to the apex, concluding with a small chamber atop the 47th floor machinery penthouse. Each floor is 11 feet high, except the penthouse, which is 27 feet. The various roof levels are flat. Notice how the windows on the central tower of the building are arranged in 1-window, 2-window, 1-window groupings, similar to that used in Rowland's designs of the Michigan Bell and Western Electric Warehouse, the Guardian Building, and the Michigan Bell Madison Central Office.
The north wall (Fort Street) is an unbroken expanse of windows, made interesting by different spandrels and different window groupings (1st and 2nd photos below). The lower 7 floors of the Congress Street facade of the Greater Penobscot Building is shown in the 3rd photo below.
The 3 huge bays of windows on the first through fourth floors of the Fort Street side have some beautiful spandrels and keystones, shown in all of the photos below. Each of those bays includes a half-round arch at the top, and each encloses two smaller round arched windows. The spandrels between the windows of the second and third floors display sculpted Native American figures as well as symbols of commerce, industry, and prosperity.
Finally, here are a few more photos of the Greater Penobscot Building with a more artistic intent. The photos which show the top of the building give another example of half-round arches.
More photos and more description of this building can be found at HistoricDetroit.org.