Posted: Oct. 31, 2009

STILL STANDING TALL
Ford Building in Detroit approaches 100th year

BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Famed lawyer Clarence Darrow rented an office there once while defending Ossian Sweet in 1925 in one of Detroit's most-famous trials. Darrow was just one of many tenants, famous or not, who occupied downtown Detroit's Ford Building over the years.

One of Detroit's earliest skyscrapers, the 19-story Ford Building, at 615 Griswold St., is to celebrate its 100th anniversary on Nov. 12 with a reception and party.

Chicago architect Daniel Burnham designed the Ford Building. He created a modern office building but faced it with white terra-cotta accented with white Italian marble for a more classical look and decorated it with neo-Renaissance flourishes.

Overshadowed in the downtown office market by more famous buildings like the Guardian and the Renaissance Center, the Ford Building continues to operate today as it always has, as the office home of small law firms and other downtown tenants.

Tom Paglia, the building's owner for the past 18 years, bought the building for $1.35 million at an auction in 1991. Since that day, he said this week, he has watched downtown add casinos, stadiums, restaurants and lofts, evolving from a workplace to more of an entertainment center. But his building has endured despite a brutal slump in the downtown office market, which suffers the highest vacancy rates in the region.

"The building has been successful because of its ability to provide necessary services for its tenants," Paglia said this week. "We strive to make service our primary goal here, and we feel that's what will attract and keep tenants here."

Contact JOHN GALLAGHER: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com

http://freep.com/article/20091031/BU...hes-100th-year