Merchants Building

The Merchants Building, built in 1922, is architecturally significant as a well-designed and detailed terra-cotta-clad structure. It is also significant for its associations with real estate developer John J. Barlum, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Detroit in the 1920s. Barlum had the Merchants Building built in 1922 as a cornerstone in the thriving women's apparel shopping district on Broadway. John J. Barlum had the Merchants Building constructed in 1922. The general contractor was the Otto Misch Company, one of the largest building firms in Detroit in the 1920s. Otto Misch, president of the Company, was known locally as the 'Builder of Skyscrapers' and is responsible for the construction of many of Detroit's commercial structures in the 1920s, including the Lawyers' Building (1922), the Barlum Hotel (1927) and the forty-story Barlum (Cadillac) Tower (1928). John J. Barlum made a fortune in real estate development in Detroit. Educated at Goldsmith College and the University of Detroit, Barlum joined his father's wholesale and retail meat business soon after college. A sharp businessman, he eventually became the president of the American State Bank, and a director in the Barlum Land Company, Barlum Realty Company, Cadillac Square Improvement Company, Postal Hotel Company, Barlum Steamship Company, Twentieth Star Navigation Company, Ashley and Dustin Steamer Line, and the Postal Steamship Company. He was also a member of the Public Lighting Committee and the Detroit Board of Commerce. By the 1920s John J. Barlum was one of the wealthiest and most influential men of Detroit. Over the years he had invested heavily in downtown real estate and contributed to its development. In the late 1930s Barlum lost his real estate holdings as a result of poor management and the collapse of the American State Bank. Since the 1920s the building has been known for the furriers located in the building. At least three fur companies have been tenants in the building. Other tenants have included the Midwest Woolen Company, the Kroger Grocery and Bakery, and the New York Life Insurance Company. Today the building houses a clothing manufacturer, a jeweler, a watch maker, shoe repair, cigar store, a sandwich shop, a tea room, and a men's clothing store.

The Merchants Building is located at the northwest corner of Broadway Avenue and Grand River Boulevard in the southeast section of the Detroit central business district. The eight-story building is of reinforced concrete and steel construction sheathed in white terra-cotta and topped with a flat roof. It has wood casement windows and metal spandrel panels. The building is rectangular in plan, measuring 110 feet along Grand River Boulevard and 66 feet along Broadway Avenue. Though both street elevations are major facades, the building entrance is on Grand River Boulevard. The exterior is unaltered except for minor window alterations on the second floor and inappropriate signage on the storefronts. The building exterior is composed of three sections vertically. The base consists of the street level storefronts with second floor windows above separated by metal spandrel panels. The six storefront bays on Grand River Boulevard and the two larger storefront bays on Broadway are separated by terra-cotta piers which rise to the terra-cotta base cornice above the second floor. The mid-section on Grand River Boulevard has six bays directly above the storefront bays separated by fluted terra-cotta Corinthian pilasters rising from the third floor through the seventh floor. The bays each contain four casement windows with transom lights. Each floor is separated by metal spandrel panels with four raised panels, one below each window. An elaborate terra-cotta frieze and cornice separates the mid-section from the top floor which consists of small casement windows in groups of four on the Grand River Boulevard elevation and in groups of three on the Broadway elevation. Each group of windows is separated by a terra-cotta shield located above the Corinthian pilasters. The building is capped with a single terra-cotta parapet wall. The interior contains a small mezzanine elevator lobby at the Grand River Boulevard entrance. The ground floor contains plaster walled open spaces divided by non-loadbearing partitions. The interior of the Merchants Building is largely unaltered. The only alterations are the introduction of window air conditioners, replacement of some second floor windows, and extensive storefront signage.