Cary Building

The Cary Building, built in 1906, is significant as an early commercial-style building noted for its strong expression of structural bays and the sweeping arches that cap them. The Cary Building is an important work of prominent Detroit architect Richard E. Haseman. The Cary Building, along with Haseman's Breitmeyer/Tobin Building located directly across the street, started the transformation of Miami Avenue, then renamed Broadway, from an affluent residential area into a highly fashionable women's shopping area. The Cary Building is also significant for its association with Frank M. Cary who speculated in Detroit real estate. The Cary Building was designed by Richard E. Haseman (1855-1944) of the architectural firm of Haseman and Fisher. Considered one of Detroit's foremost architects in the early 1920s, Haseman's work includes the Breitmeyer/Tobin Building, located directly across Broadway from the Cary Building, and the Harmonie Club, both listed on the National Register. Haseman's other designs include the Asylum Building at Eloise, Harper Hospital's Operating Building, Calvert Lithographing Company, Arnold Post Building, several large plants for Edison Electric Lighting Company, warehouses and stores for Theo Eaton, Detroit White Lead and Color Works, Murphy Chair Company, Nelson Baker and Company, Wagner Brothers' Shoe Stores, and a rectory for St. Paul's Church. Haseman served as the Director of the Michigan Sulfate Fiber Company, and was a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, the American Institute of Architects, the Harmonie Society and the Detroit Athletic Club. Frank M. Cary, President of the Cary Realty Company, had the Cary Building constructed in 1906. This development started the transformation of the area from an affluent residential area into one of the most desirable commercial trade locations in Detroit in the first quarter of the 20th century. The commercial area developed as a women's fashion district as florists, corseters, dress shops, modists, notion shops, milliners, and hairdressers pre-empted the avenue for themselves. The women of Detroit showed their appreciation by making Broadway Avenue the place for their shopping through the 1920s. Since then, Broadway has transformed from catering heavily to women's fashion to presently catering to men's fashion.

The Cary Building, built in 1906 to the designs of architect Richard E. Haseman, is a five-story commercial structure located on the northeast corner of Broadway and Gratiot avenues in a district in the southeast section of downtown Detroit once noted as a fashionable shopping area for women's clothing. Constructed of reinforced concrete and steel and faced with brick with stone trim, the building is rectangular in plan measuring 112 feet along Gratiot and 34 feet along Broadway. The main entrance is on Gratiot though major facades face both Gratiot and Broadway. The massive cornice has been removed and the first floor storefronts have been altered with new and extensive signage. Otherwise, the building is unaltered. The building exterior is composed of three sections vertically. The base consists of the street-level storefronts surmounted by a stone belt course. The mid-section includes floors two through four and is composed on the Gratiot Avenue facade of five, three-story masonry arches with segmental heads and ionic key consoles. These arched masonry openings surround deeply recessed wooden Chicago style windows with transom panels above which are separated at each floor by brick spandrel panels. The flanking outer bays have two story round-headed arches trimmed in stone surrounding slightly recessed, double-hung windows with transom panels on the second floor and pivotal windows with arched transom panels on the third floor. The fourth floor openings above the arch on the end bays consist of two double-hung windows trimmed in stone and separated by a stone ionic column. This end bay design is repeated twice to compose the Broadway street facade. The fifth floor is separated by a stone belt course and consists of pairs of double-hung windows above each of the bays. The original cornice was removed in the 1950s. The interior contains ordinary office space with no significant features. The small entrance lobby was remodeled in the 1950s. The building currently functions with men's fashion retailers and service-oriented businesses on the first floor and with offices and studios above.