Breitmeyer-Tobin Building

The Breitmeyer-Tobin Building is architecturally significant as an unusual example of a Beaux-Arts style office building. It is primarily significant for its historical role as the center of black professional activity in Detroit since the 1930s.

The Tobin Building is an interesting example of the heavy-handed, English Palladian Baroque, Revival, Beaux Arts architecture popularized by Richard Norman Shaw and other English architects at the turn-of-the-century. The widespread availability of inexpensive, glazed, terra-cotta architectural elements, which were much less expensive than comparable carved marble or limestone trim, contributed to the popularity of this style, which satisfied the lingering late Victorian taste for ornament while still signifying the growing interest in sober, classical and colonial-inspired designs. This particular, strongly contrasting, ponderously detailed, red and white style never achieved great popularity in Detroit and there are only a few other examples, all built about the same time.

The architects, Raseman and Fisher, were typical of the community of ethnic architects working in Detroit at the turn-of-the-century. As German immigrants, most of their commissions came from prosperous German merchants such as John Breitmeyer. In addition to a number of commercial buildings in this part of the city, the firm also executed the nearby Harmonie Club, the home of the leading German social organization in Detroit. All of the firm's known work is characterized by a liberal use of terra-cotta and a reliance on classical motifs.

When the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building was completed in 1906 it was a pioneering office building in this traditionally retail-oriented part of Detroit. Its construction predates the enormous building boom which the automobile industry brought to downtown Detroit. Its height and dramatic color contrast quickly made it a visual landmark amidst the low surrounding structures as it terminated the vista up Randolph Street and Gratiot Avenue from the central business district.

The building was constructed to house John Breitmeyer Sons, Florists, the premier florist company in the city of Detroit at the time. Phillip Breitmeyer, its president, served as mayor of Detroit from 1909-10, largely an uneventful term during which he was responsible for the widening of some of Detroit's streets and thoroughfares. Following his term in office, Phillip Breitmeyer returned to private life continuing his influence as a nationally respected and influential horticulturalist. He re-entered the political arena in 1933, emerging from retirement to become a candidate for Mayor but was defeated by Frank Couzens. In 1937, Mr. Breitmeyer became a candidate for Council and was elected but was defeated for re-election in 1939. Breitmeyer died in April, 1941.

In 1926 the building was acquired by the Peninsular State Bank.

In 1936 the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, eighth floor occupants of the mostly vacant building, stopped its practice of sending agents from house-to-house to collect premiums. This led to a steady stream of blacks entering the building to make payments in person since the company was noted for its willingness to grant small policies to negroes. It is interesting to note that black visitors were made to use a special, non-stop rear elevator to Metropolitan Life's offices. Soon after this, the building began renting office space to black tenants, one of the first downtown buildings to do so.

The Peninsular State Bank went into receivership in 1941, and for approximately four years the ownership of the building was embroiled in the courts. Benjamin Tobin acquired full ownership of the building in 1944, although the building name had been changed to the Tobin Building as early as 1941.

Faced with a large vacancy rate and the already established precedent of blacks coming to the building, Ben Tobin actively solicited black tenants. He invited the elite and well-known black professionals of the city to take office space in the building. Evidence of a policy of renting to black professionals is provided by a full page advertisement in the Official Business and Professional Guide of Detroit (6th Edition), copyrighted in 1945. This guide to the black community carried a full page advertisement for the Tobin Building, with the line "Best Professional Address." As a result, by the late 1940s many of Detroit's prominent black professionals had taken offices in the Tobin Building. Among these were Dr. William H. Lawson and his son, Lloyd, both internationally famed optometrists; the Stewart M. Thompson Tax Service; five judges including Damon Keith; Hobart Taylor, Jr., an attorney who, among his more noteable achievements, was Associate General Council to President Lyndon Johnson and later was appointed to the Board of Directors of the World Bank; and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the largest black union in the United States. Also maintaining office space in the building was Atty. Charles A. Roxborough, a graduate of Detroit College of Law and leader in Detroit civic affairs, who served as clerk for Governor Charles Osborne, was a member of the Wayne County Board of Supervisors, and was a former member of the Michigan State Senate.

The prestigious and highly respected law firm of Loomis, Jones, Piper and Colden whose members included many prominent attorneys were building tenants. Atty. Lloyd Loomis organized the firm in 1927, and that same year he became the first black appointed Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Wayne County. Other achievements by Atty. Loomis include: four years service on the Wayne County Board of Supervisory (sponsored by John Lodge) and the prosecution to conviction in the conspiracy trial against Hamtramck municipal officials together with Harry Kelly, who later became governor.

Two other legal notables who have maintained offices in the Tobin Building are Atty. Harold E. Bledsoe and Judge Wade McCree.

Atty. Bledsoe's achievements and firsts include: first black attorney on the State Attorney General's staff (appointed in 1934); as a member of the law firm of Lewis & Roulette conducted the successful defense of Dr. Ossian Sweet and his family. In 1932, together with Charles Diggs, Sr. and Joseph Craigen, founded the Michigan Federated Democratic Club, the first black Democratic organization in the nation. This organization was largely responsible for pursuading black voters in the state to change from Republican to Democratic which contributed to the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president. He was a member of the commission which wrote the Michigan Unemployment Compensation Act and a member of the Corrections Commission and the Commission on Labor and Industry. Further, he was elected to the Constitutional Convention in 1963 to write Michigan's new constitution, which, when accepted, included his Declaration of Rights and the proposition of a Civil Rights Commission. Atty. Bledsoe died in April, 1974.

Atty. Wade McCree, then a staff attorney with the law firm of Bledsoe, Craigen and Simmons, was greatly influenced by Atty. Bledsoe. In fact, when McCree was first approached regarding accepting an appointment to the Wayne County Circuit Court bench in 1954, it was with Atty. Bledsoe's urging and blessing that he accepted and thereby became the first of his race to serve on that court. Judge McCree's accomplishments to date include serving as U.S. District Judge. He has been a member of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals since 1966, and presently is Solicitor General of the United States, in which position he argues the government position in cases coming before the U.S. Supreme Court. Most recently Judge McCree's name has been mentioned as a possible nominee to the Supreme Court.

The building's importance in the black professional community has waned in recent years as prestige office space in newer, larger and more centrally located structures is now freely available to the black community. Today the owner is interested in renovating the structure, utilizing the provisions of the Tax Reform Act, to keep the building viable and to bolster its declining occupancy rate. Although the black professional community is now dispersed throughout the city, the Tobin Building remains significant for its role in fostering the growth and acceptance of Black professionalism in Detroit.

The Tobin Building, an eight story steel-frame office and commercial structure, is an example of the Beaux Arts style as applied to the "tall" building at the turn of the century. Because of its corner location, the building has two finished facades; the other two sides are of plain brick, and were not intended to be seen. The building's location on Pingree Square makes it highly visable, terminating the view north on Randolph Street in the central business district. It is surrounded by other commercial structures.

Retail space occupies most of the first floor, with storefronts on both Gratiot Avenue and Broadway. The lobby entrance for the office space is on Broadway, and the lobby and elevators are along the northern wall.

The walls of the two main facades are of red brick with cream terra-cotta trim; the first floor storefronts and the building entrance have been refaced, mostly in black glass. The second floor is faced entirely with terra-cotta; above which the walls are brick with terra-cotta ornament. The third through sixth floors are identical with sash windows with terra-cotta surrounds. A terra-cotta course girds the building at window sill level on each of these floors. A terra-cotta dentil cornice at the seventh floor sill level sets off the upper two floors. The window arrangement of the lower floors is repeated, but the windows of the six central bays of the seventh and eighth floor are recessed and separated by two-story tall engaged Ionic columns. The terra-cotta entablature, which rests on the engaged columns is supported at the corners by the terra-cotta cartouches. The plain entablature is crowned with a metal dentil and modillion cornice.

Exterior alterations have been made to the first floor facades, which are covered in black Carrarra glass. In addition, the elaborate pedimented doorway leading to the elevator lobby has been removed and replaced with a simple, modern doorway. Marks on the terra-cotta between the central second-floor windows indicate the location of massive console brackets which once supported an ornamental balcony below the third floor windows. Although the loss of the balconies is regrettable, the alterations were done carefully, and except for the color change where the brackets were removed, the casual viewer would not be unaware of the change. All of these alterations were carried out prior to 1945, when a photograph of the building was published in an advertisement showing it in its present state.

The building is not fully rectangular; the northern bays, which contain the lobby, elevators, and stairwell, do not extend the full depth of the building to the east. A metal fire escape is fitted into the notch at the rear.

The interior plan of the building is basically "L" shaped. On the first floor, the lobby area leads to two elevators against the east wall; a door at the rear of the lobby leads to the stairwell, which contains decorative cast iron stairs. The white marble wainscotting in the lobby is original, but above it is "Moderne" plasterwork which appears to date from the same period as the exterior alterations. On the upper floors, offices run in an "L" shape along the western and southern walls, and extend along the outer walls from the northwest corner (above the lobby) to the northeast corner, with one additional bay of office space on the north wall. The rest of the area between the "L" shaped corridor and the north wall is occupied by service areas and rest rooms. The elevators on each floor open onto one end of the "L" of the corridor, and a door leads to the stairwell immediately adjacent to the elevator doors.

Some interior modernization has taken place, but large areas of the interior are in their original state except for suspended acoustical tile ceilings in the hallways. The office spaces are simply finished with plaster walls and modest wooden millwork trim. The original office door knobs are cast with a letter "B" as a reminder of the structure's original name, the Breitmeyer Building.