Chamber of Commerce Building

The L. B. King & Company Building is one of a small number of fine, terra-cotta-clad, commercial buildings in downtown Detroit designed by leading Detroit architects in the 1905-1920 period. It housed two firms, L. B. King & Company, china wholesalers and retailers, and Annis Furs Company, furriers prominent in the commercial history of Detroit. Founded in 1849 by Robert W. King and reorganized in 1894 as L. B. King & Company, the company, under the direction of Louis Buhl King, became the largest wholesale and retail china dealer in Detroit and Michigan, occupying this building from 1911 to 1932. Annis Furs, founded by Newton Annis in 1887, was housed here from 1932 to 1983. The firm, which at one time employed 100 to 130 furriers, were the leading designers, manufacturers, and retailers of first-class furs in Detroit. The Whitney Realty Company developed the King Building obtaining a permit to construct the building in October 1910 and completing the work in 1911. Founded by wealthy lumberman David Whitney, Jr., the Whitney Realty Company was responsible for building several of the largest business blocks in the city including, among others, the Whitney block -corner of Grand Circus Park and Woodward Avenue. His son, David C. Whitney, continued and expanded the company's operation until his untimely death, under mysterious circumstances, in 1942. The building is one of several of similar scale fine terra-cotta-clad, commercial buildings in downtown Detroit designed by the city's prominent architects. Other important examples include the 1907 Empire Building by John Scott & Company and the Grinnell Brothers and Kales Buildings (1908), Palmer Building (1910), and Vinton Building (1916-17) by Albert Kahn. All these structures are listed in the National Register individually or as parts of historic districts. The King Building was designed by Rogers & MacFarlane of Detroit, who were better known for their homes, churches, and factories than for commercial buildings such as this. The firm was formed in 1887 and dissolved in 1910. This building is one of the few structures designed by the firm still standing within the city of Detroit.

The L. B. King & Company (Annis Furs) Building is a six-story, steel frame, commercial building with a Renaissance Revival-style facade of white terra-cotta. It is located at the corner of Grand River and Library Avenues, just east of Woodward Avenue, toward the north edge of Detroit's central business district. The building's virtually all glass street-facing facades are in the first two stories subdivided by pilasters into broad bays and each bay further subdivided by a subsidiary set of pilasters. In the top four stories, vertical banks of Chicago windows are set between piers rising atop the pilasters. Crowning the structure is an elaborate cornice of Italian Renaissance inspiration, an alteration carried out in 1926. Originally built in 1910 as a retail and wholesale outlet for china, crockery and glassware, the King Building later housed Annis Furs' retail and tailoring operations. It is located in a mercantile district and nearby are retail shops, the downtown branch of the Detroit Public Library, and two People Mover Transit System stations. Across Broadway Avenue on Grand River Avenue are two other white terra-cotta buildings and several others are also located nearby, including the Wurlitzer Building designed by Albert Kahn. The King building is located on a corner and is visible from Woodward Avenue, Grand River Avenue, and Broadway Avenue. Planned future use will ensure steady exposure to the public as they call on professional offices and retail shops to be located within the building. The building is six stories in height with a mezzanine level and measures sixty-two feet nine inches in width on Library and ninety-five feet eight inches in depth on Grand River and has a height of eighty-five feet. It has a seventh story penthouse which is approximately one-third the size of the first six floors. The building has a steel frame and a red brick foundation and walls but reinforced concrete floors and support pillars. Cement and steel make up the roof, which is flat and covered with three-ply hot tar applied with additional twenty five-pound roofing felt. The application process is that of smooth surface asphalt. The King Building is an excellent example of Renaissance Revival inspired commercial building design in architectural terra-cotta from the early twentieth century. Architects Rogers and MacFarlane divided the building into a tripartite design consisting of a two-story base, long vertical bays of windows emphasizing verticality through the use of arched segmental columns, and an elaborate cornice crowning the composition. The two-story lower portion is delineated by panelled pilasters supporting a dentil-trimmed, classical entablature. The four-story segmentally arched section is accentuated by cartouches, while the corniceline is visually emphasized through anthemions and round arches which spring from heavy corbel brackets. The window treatments are typically Chicago Style, with a large fixed central pane of glass flanked on both sides by narrow double-hung windows providing ventilation. The frames and sashes are of wood with the third floor windows having intricately detailed pilasters and aprons executed in metal. A great proportion of the building wall space is occupied by window treatments and detailing throughout is reminiscent of the Renaissance Revival School of Architecture. All window treatments are original with the exception of those windows located on the ground level. By comparison with pictures from 1911, it appears that the window area was not expanded, but the casements replaced. The interior of the Annis Furs Building has been extensively remodeled. The penthouse is unfinished and at one time housed all operations connected with the cleaning of furs or other solvent related operations. The sixth and fifth floors have finished concrete walls, floors and ceilings as they were employee work areas or used as storage. Retail sales were made by Annis Furs on the first through fourth floors with some areas set aside for administrative needs. In L. B. King's time, the basement through third floor housed retail sales of china, while the fourth floor was connected with King's wholesale operations. The fourth floor is in white plaster with cement ceilings, while the third floor was altered to reflect an Art Deco appearance. The gracefully rounded burred walnut facing around the elevators and wall treatments are characteristic of that period. The second floor has plaster walls and a drop ceiling and is typical of modern commercial treatment. It is painted a bright blue. The first floor has been extensively remodeled to a modern appearance with Art Deco influences. The walls are of plaster and/or dry wall and finished in white paint. Mirrored non-supporting pillars have been added to this room. On each of the first four floors there are retail and administrative areas, as well as dressing rooms throughout. Alterations to the exterior included the addition of steel tanks on the roof, a large illuminated sign, the installation of aluminum awnings and framed windows on the ground level, and the replacement of the cornice in 1926. The City of Detroit has either lost or had destroyed by fire all permits and plans relating to these alterations. No successor companies or corporations to the applicants could be located and it is difficult to factually state the extent of the alterations. However, comparison with photographs of the building throughout the years indicate that it has always had awnings. The tanks on the roof and the illuminated sign will be removed without damage to the structure. While the cornice varies in appearance from the original item, it has been in place since 1926 and forms the appearance Detroiters have associated with the building since that time. It is again difficult to characterize the alterations to the interior as original floor plans could not be located due to the fact that all permits and plans have either been destroyed or lost. However, photographic documentation from 1911 illustrates a typical retail establishment at that time with large sales areas allowing the public to browse. Subsequent alterations to the interior included the installation of dressing rooms on the first through fourth floors and the conversion of the first and third floors to a more modern appearance reflecting Art Deco influences. Sketch floor plans have been included for the building as it presently exists. While the interior has been extensively remodeled, the exterior remains virtually unchanged in both materials and appearance. The exterior of the building will be restored to its original appearance and conditions, while the interior will be renovated to a modern appearance as required by the needs of prospective tenants.