Empire Building

The Washington Boulevard Historic District is significant as an intact streetscape of architecturally distinguished commercial buildings dating from 1901-1930 with a majority built in the 1920s. The buildings individually represent some of the finest early Twentieth Century architecture in Detroit and as a group illustrate the evolution of the commercial style in Detroit as it was practiced by some of Michigan's master architects. The district is also significant as a product of a planned real estate development inspired by the City Beautiful movement and carried out as the private artistic endeavor of one family and their architect, Louis Kamper.

The Empire Building at 1450 Washington Boulevard was constructed as the Detroit City Gas Company Building in 1907. It is a nine-story, terra-cotta sheathed office building with Chicago style fenestration and eclectic Tudor Gothic detailing. John Scott and Company, an architecture firm better known for its large institutional buildings such as the Wayne County Building, Detroit (listed in the National Register), designed the structure. In 1919 the original cornice was removed and the attic story converted into the present ninth floor.