The Adrian Engine House No. 1 is a historic fire station

Fire station

A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...

 located at 126 East Church Street in downtown Adrian

Adrian, Michigan

As of the 2010 census Adrian had a population of 21,133. The racial and ethnic makeup of the population was 84.1% white, 4.4% black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 5.9% from some other race and 4.0% from two or more races...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site

Michigan State Historic Preservation Office

The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office is in charge of the listing of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of Michigan, including buildings, lighthouses, bridges, historic districts, and many other properties deemed important to the history of Michigan...

  and listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on August 21, 1989. It is located within the Downtown Adrian Commercial Historic District

Downtown Adrian Commercial Historic District

The Downtown Adrian Commercial Historic District is a historic district comprising the downtown area of Adrian, Michigan. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site and added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1986....

 and next to the Adrian Public Library

Adrian Public Library

The Adrian Public Library is a historic structure located at 110 East Church Street in downtown Adrian, Michigan. Originally used as a library, it was designated as a Michigan Historic Site on December 14, 1976 and later listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 1977...

.

The Adrian Fire Department itself dates back to 1841, while the fire station was first constructed in 1855. Constructed mostly of bricks mixed with a few later additions made of wood, it was built with a mixture of Romanesque Revival

Romanesque Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...

 and Italianate

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

 architecture. The main feature of the fire station is a landmark tower once used for drying the fire hose

Fire hose

A fire hose is a high-pressure hose used to carry water or other fire retardant to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it is attached either to a fire engine or a fire hydrant. Indoors, it can be permanently attached to a building's standpipe or plumbing system...

s. At 70 feet (21 m) tall, it is one of the tallest structures in the city. It was the oldest continuously operating fire station in Michigan when it closed in 1987. After that, the building was internally restructured into retail office space, while the outside had remained unchanged. It is currently occupied by the Adrian Design Group.