Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Co.

625 Shelby – Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Co. – Steel-frame, two-story limestone and brick structure (1912). Located adjacent to 607 Shelby to the south and an alley to the north, the building is square in plan, with a broad and low front. The building’s street and alley facades are faced in Indiana limestone. The Neoclassical building displays broad anate at the front corners and a screen of four unfluted Ionic columns (plus a half-column at each end) between that rests on a low base pierced by basement windows now filled with glass block. The pedimented classical entrance stands between the center two columns. The broad and tall window areas between the columns and above the door are now filled with dark reflective plate glass. An entablature with three-part architrave and a dentiled cornice, topped by a decorative balustrade, spans the façade and continues around the north (alley) side. The north side displays broad piers in place of the front’s columns. The interior retains a great deal of original ceiling and wall plaster detailing. Today, signage for Elysium, the nightclub that uses the building, is centered over the door between two columns. Woodward Avenue