Westin Book-Cadillac Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit is a restored historic skyscraper hotel In the Washington Boulevard Historic District
of downtown Detroit, Michigan
. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance
style, and constructed as the Book-Cadillac, it is part of Westin Hotels
and embodies Neo-Classical
elements and building sculpture, incorporating brick
and limestone
. Among its notable features are the sculptures of notable figures from Detroit's history—General Anthony Wayne, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac
, Chief Pontiac
, and Robert Navarre along the ornate Michigan Avenue facade and copper-covered roof elements. The hotel is 349 ft (106.4 m) tall with 31 floors, and includes 67 exclusive luxury condominiums and penthouses on the top eight floors. It reopened in October 2008 after completing a $200-million reconstruction project.
three blocks to the north. They commissioned architect Louis Kamper
, who designed their Book Building
in 1917, to design the building. In 1917, the brothers bought the old Cadillac Hotel at the northeast corner of Michigan and Washington Blvd., but World War I material shortages delayed the start of work on their new hotel. Construction finally began in 1923, and the building, which bore part of the name of the old structure, was the tallest in the city and the tallest hotel in the world when it opened in December 1924.
The hotel cost $14 million to build and contained 1,136 guest rooms. Public spaces on the first five floors included three dining rooms, three ballrooms, a spacious lobby, and a ground floor retail arcade. On the hotel's top floor was radio station WCX, the predecessor to WJR
. The hotel operated successfully until the Great Depression
, when banks foreclosed and the Book brothers lost control in 1931. For much of the period after the Books lost ownership, the hotel was run by hotel industry pioneer Ralph Hitz
's National Hotel Management Company.
On May 2, 1939, a meeting took place in the hotel lobby between New York Yankees
first baseman
Lou Gehrig
and team manager Joe McCarthy in which Gehrig told McCarthy to leave him out of the starting line-up from that day's game with the ending his 2,130 consecutive games streak.
In 1951, Sheraton
bought the hotel, renamed it the Sheraton-Cadillac, and undertook massive renovations. All public spaces except the ballrooms and Italian Garden were redone and escalators replaced the grand staircase. In 1975, with business declining and the hotel in need of another renovation, Sheraton sold the building and it became the Detroit-Cadillac. Ownership changed again in 1976, and it became the Radisson-Cadillac. In 1979 the Radisson
chain sold the property, and it became the Book-Cadillac once again. Though it was considered the city's top hotel for many years the owners announced that the hotel would close due to declining occupancy. The city of Detroit, scheduled to host the 1980 Republican National Convention
, did not want to face the prospect of losing more downtown hotel space so in late 1979 the city entered into a partnership through the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation with the owners to keep the hotel open.
By 1983, it was decided that the only way to bring the hotel back to profitability was to convert it into a mixed-use property. The hotel's 1100 rooms were deemed too numerous to fill and were too small by modern standards. The plan would turn the building into the Book-Cadillac Plaza, a 12 floor, 550 room hotel and 11 floors of office space. The hotel closed its doors in October 1984 for the renovation, but those plans were quickly dashed as proposed construction cost soared, and Detroit's economic situation continued to deteriorate. For the next two years developers came and went. But with no one able to take on the increasingly complex renovation, in 1986 the contents were liquidated. After the sale, the hotel's retail tenants who had planned to stay through the renovation moved out and the building was shuttered, a state in which it would remain for the next 20 years. Time passed and the unmaintained property fell victim to time, the elements, vandalism, and urban scavengers.
In July 2003, after years of legal battles to fully acquire the building and to find a developer, the city of Detroit announced a $150 million renovation deal with Historic Hospitality Investments a subsidiary of Kimberly-Clark
to turn the building into a Renaissance Hotel. Work started shortly after the announcement but came to a halt in November when construction crews discovered more damage than anticipated. The associated cost overrun caused Kimberly-Clark to back out of the deal. A new renovation plan through the Cleveland-based Ferchill Group was announced in June 2006, with the Book-Cadillac to become a Westin Hotel and Residences. Kaczmar Architects Inc. of Cleveland completed design and historic renovation work on the project from August 2006 through to completion in the fall of 2008, with a grand opening celebration held on October 25, 2008.
designed the hotel in the Renaissance Revival style at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Michigan Avenue. Abutting the hotel on the north was the headquarters of the Detroit Edison Company
. The structure is a steel skeleton faced with beige brick and limestone accents.
The lower six floors are clad in limestone. On the ground floor it is carved into wide horizontal bands while floors two through five are smooth. Corinthian
pilasters and columns separate the windows of the public rooms from the second to fifth floors with windows for the second and third floors contained in large arches. Windows on the fourth floor are framed by small balconies. Above the sixth floor, the exterior is beige brick with cornices at floors 7, 16 and 21. Ionic
columns frame windows on floors 23 through 25. A large cornice encircled the 27th floor and was removed during an earlier renovation.
Limestone quoins
accent three corners of the building which are capped with copper-clad ziggurat
s. The north and south sides have penthouse towers that extend to the 31st floor. When the north penthouse was reconstructed, it was built 18 ft (5.5 m) shorter to make the zigurrats the highest points of the building. The building sits atop three basements, which contain some inoperable mechanical equipment too large to remove during renovation.
On June 27, 2006, the Ferchill Group agreed to renovate the structure into a mixed-use hotel and condominium
building including a 453-room Westin Hotel, and 67 condominiums units priced above $280,000. ForrestPerkins completed interior designs for the project which cost $
176 million and was completed in fall 2008. As part of the renovation some of the original decor of the Grand Ballroom (renamed the Venetian Ballroom) and Italian Garden was recreated. A three story addition containing a new 11000 square feet (1,021.9 m²) ballroom, pool, hot-tub, fitness center, spa, and additional conference space was built behind the hotel on the site previously occupied by the Detroit Edison Headquarters.
Across Shelby St. from the hotel, the Peoples' Outfitting building, also known as the Detroit Commerce Building
was demolished and replaced with a 10-story parking garage.
Washington Boulevard Historic District
Washington Boulevard Historic District is a multi-block area of downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is bounded by Washington Boulevard between State and Clifford streets. In 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places...
of downtown Detroit, 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"....
. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
style, and constructed as the Book-Cadillac, it is part of Westin Hotels
Westin Hotels
Westin Hotels & Resorts are an upscale hotel chain owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. As of 2011, Westin operated over 160 hotels in 37 countries.-History:...
and embodies Neo-Classical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
elements and building sculpture, incorporating brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. Among its notable features are the sculptures of notable figures from Detroit's history—General Anthony Wayne, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac was a French explorer and adventurer in New France, now an area of North America stretching from Eastern Canada in the north to Louisiana in the south. Rising from a modest beginning in Acadia in 1683 as an explorer, trapper, and a trader of alcohol...
, Chief Pontiac
Chief Pontiac
Pontiac or Obwandiyag , was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion , an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's...
, and Robert Navarre along the ornate Michigan Avenue facade and copper-covered roof elements. The hotel is 349 ft (106.4 m) tall with 31 floors, and includes 67 exclusive luxury condominiums and penthouses on the top eight floors. It reopened in October 2008 after completing a $200-million reconstruction project.
History
The hotel was developed by the Book Brothers—J. Burgess, Frank, and Herbert. The brothers sought to turn Detroit's Washington Boulevard into the "Fifth Avenue of the West." Part of that vision was the creation of a flagship luxury hotel to compete against the Detroit Statler HotelDetroit Statler Hotel
The Detroit Statler Hotel , a.k.a. the Detroit Hilton Hotel, was located at 1539 Washington Boulevard across from Grand Circus Park between the David Whitney Building and Hotel Tuller in the Foxtown neighborhood of downtown Detroit, Michigan...
three blocks to the north. They commissioned architect Louis Kamper
Louis Kamper
Louis Kamper was an American architect, active in and aroundDetroit and Wayne County, Michigan, in the United States.-Project range:...
, who designed their Book Building
Book Tower
Book Tower is a , 38-story skyscraper in the Washington Boulevard Historic District of Detroit, Michigan. Construction began on the Italian Renaissance-style building in 1916 as an addition to the original Book Building and finished a decade later...
in 1917, to design the building. In 1917, the brothers bought the old Cadillac Hotel at the northeast corner of Michigan and Washington Blvd., but World War I material shortages delayed the start of work on their new hotel. Construction finally began in 1923, and the building, which bore part of the name of the old structure, was the tallest in the city and the tallest hotel in the world when it opened in December 1924.
The hotel cost $14 million to build and contained 1,136 guest rooms. Public spaces on the first five floors included three dining rooms, three ballrooms, a spacious lobby, and a ground floor retail arcade. On the hotel's top floor was radio station WCX, the predecessor to WJR
WJR
WJR is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It broadcasts a news/talk format. It is a class A clear channel station whose broadcasts can be heard throughout most of the Midwest, eastern United States and Canada at night, making it one of the most powerful radio stations in the...
. The hotel operated successfully until the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, when banks foreclosed and the Book brothers lost control in 1931. For much of the period after the Books lost ownership, the hotel was run by hotel industry pioneer Ralph Hitz
Ralph Hitz
Ralph Hitz was a pioneer in the hotel industry, whose ideas for marketing and customer service became the industry standard for luxury lodging. Born in Vienna, Austria, on March 1, 1891, Hitz ran away from home three days after his family arrived in New York in 1906...
's National Hotel Management Company.
On May 2, 1939, a meeting took place in the hotel lobby between New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig , nicknamed "The Iron Horse" for his durability, was an American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 17-year baseball career for the New York Yankees . Gehrig set several major league records. He holds the record for most career grand slams...
and team manager Joe McCarthy in which Gehrig told McCarthy to leave him out of the starting line-up from that day's game with the ending his 2,130 consecutive games streak.
In 1951, Sheraton
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's largest and second oldest brand . Starwood's headquarters are in White Plains, New York.-Sheraton history:...
bought the hotel, renamed it the Sheraton-Cadillac, and undertook massive renovations. All public spaces except the ballrooms and Italian Garden were redone and escalators replaced the grand staircase. In 1975, with business declining and the hotel in need of another renovation, Sheraton sold the building and it became the Detroit-Cadillac. Ownership changed again in 1976, and it became the Radisson-Cadillac. In 1979 the Radisson
Radisson Hotels
Radisson Hotels is one of the leading, full-service global hotel companies with more than 420 locations in 73 countries. The first Radisson Hotel was built in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1909, and was named after the 17th-century French explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson...
chain sold the property, and it became the Book-Cadillac once again. Though it was considered the city's top hotel for many years the owners announced that the hotel would close due to declining occupancy. The city of Detroit, scheduled to host the 1980 Republican National Convention
1980 Republican National Convention
The 1980 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, from July 14 to July 17, 1980. The 32nd Republican National Convention nominated former Governor Ronald W. Reagan of California for President of the United States and former...
, did not want to face the prospect of losing more downtown hotel space so in late 1979 the city entered into a partnership through the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation with the owners to keep the hotel open.
By 1983, it was decided that the only way to bring the hotel back to profitability was to convert it into a mixed-use property. The hotel's 1100 rooms were deemed too numerous to fill and were too small by modern standards. The plan would turn the building into the Book-Cadillac Plaza, a 12 floor, 550 room hotel and 11 floors of office space. The hotel closed its doors in October 1984 for the renovation, but those plans were quickly dashed as proposed construction cost soared, and Detroit's economic situation continued to deteriorate. For the next two years developers came and went. But with no one able to take on the increasingly complex renovation, in 1986 the contents were liquidated. After the sale, the hotel's retail tenants who had planned to stay through the renovation moved out and the building was shuttered, a state in which it would remain for the next 20 years. Time passed and the unmaintained property fell victim to time, the elements, vandalism, and urban scavengers.
In July 2003, after years of legal battles to fully acquire the building and to find a developer, the city of Detroit announced a $150 million renovation deal with Historic Hospitality Investments a subsidiary of Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle", Scott and Andrex toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes"...
to turn the building into a Renaissance Hotel. Work started shortly after the announcement but came to a halt in November when construction crews discovered more damage than anticipated. The associated cost overrun caused Kimberly-Clark to back out of the deal. A new renovation plan through the Cleveland-based Ferchill Group was announced in June 2006, with the Book-Cadillac to become a Westin Hotel and Residences. Kaczmar Architects Inc. of Cleveland completed design and historic renovation work on the project from August 2006 through to completion in the fall of 2008, with a grand opening celebration held on October 25, 2008.
Architecture
Architect Louis KamperLouis Kamper
Louis Kamper was an American architect, active in and aroundDetroit and Wayne County, Michigan, in the United States.-Project range:...
designed the hotel in the Renaissance Revival style at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Michigan Avenue. Abutting the hotel on the north was the headquarters of the Detroit Edison Company
DTE Energy
DTE Energy Co. is a Detroit, Michigan-based utility incorporated in 1995 involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide....
. The structure is a steel skeleton faced with beige brick and limestone accents.
The lower six floors are clad in limestone. On the ground floor it is carved into wide horizontal bands while floors two through five are smooth. Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
pilasters and columns separate the windows of the public rooms from the second to fifth floors with windows for the second and third floors contained in large arches. Windows on the fourth floor are framed by small balconies. Above the sixth floor, the exterior is beige brick with cornices at floors 7, 16 and 21. Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
columns frame windows on floors 23 through 25. A large cornice encircled the 27th floor and was removed during an earlier renovation.
Limestone quoins
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
accent three corners of the building which are capped with copper-clad ziggurat
Ziggurat
Ziggurats were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels.Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near...
s. The north and south sides have penthouse towers that extend to the 31st floor. When the north penthouse was reconstructed, it was built 18 ft (5.5 m) shorter to make the zigurrats the highest points of the building. The building sits atop three basements, which contain some inoperable mechanical equipment too large to remove during renovation.
On June 27, 2006, the Ferchill Group agreed to renovate the structure into a mixed-use hotel and condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
building including a 453-room Westin Hotel, and 67 condominiums units priced above $280,000. ForrestPerkins completed interior designs for the project which cost $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
176 million and was completed in fall 2008. As part of the renovation some of the original decor of the Grand Ballroom (renamed the Venetian Ballroom) and Italian Garden was recreated. A three story addition containing a new 11000 square feet (1,021.9 m²) ballroom, pool, hot-tub, fitness center, spa, and additional conference space was built behind the hotel on the site previously occupied by the Detroit Edison Headquarters.
Across Shelby St. from the hotel, the Peoples' Outfitting building, also known as the Detroit Commerce Building
Detroit Commerce Building
The Detroit Commerce Building was located at 138-150 Michigan Avenue , in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The high-rise stood at 13 stories, 12 above-ground, and one basement floor. It was built in 1915 as headquarters for the People's Outfitting Company department store and was designed in the Chicago...
was demolished and replaced with a 10-story parking garage.
In popular culture
- The Book-Cadillac was Detroit's tallest building, and the tallest hotel in the world, when it opened in 1924.
- The bar and coffee shop played court to Detroit's notorious Purple GangThe Purple GangThe Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, were a mob with predominantly Jewish members of bootleggers and hijackers in the 1920s, operating out of Detroit, Michigan, which was a major port for running alcohol products during Prohibition due to proximity to Canada.Many openly violent...
, whose leader Abe Bernstein maintained residence on the top floor until his death in 1968.
- On May 2, 1939, New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig collapsed on the hotel's grand staircase. Gehrig, who would later be diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosisAmyotrophic lateral sclerosisAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...
, decided to sit-out that afternoon's game against the Detroit Tigers, ending his consecutive games played streak.
- The 1947 Frank CapraFrank CapraFrank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
movie State of the UnionState of the Union (film)State of the Union is a 1948 film adaptation written by Myles Connolly and Anthony Veiller of the Russel Crouse, Howard Lindsay play of the same name. Directed by Frank Capra and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, the film is Capra's first and only project for MGM Pictures...
featured scenes that were filmed at the hotel.
- Scenes in the 1973 cult movie Detroit 9000Detroit 9000Detroit 9000 is a 1973 American cult film directed by Arthur Marks from a screenplay by Orville Hampton. Originally marketed as a blaxploitation film, it had a resurgence on video 25 years later.-Plot:...
were shot at the hotel.
- The HGTVHGTVHGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...
show House HuntersHouse HuntersHouse Hunters is an American reality series that airs on HGTV. Having originally premiered in 1999, there have been three spin-off series that follow a similar format as the original show.-Format:...
aired an episode entitled "Settling Down in Detroit" in which a couple searches for a historic home in Detroit. They end up choosing one of the newly restored condos in the hotel.
- Michael Symon, who has appeared on four Food NetworkFood NetworkFood Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
/Cooking ChannelCooking ChannelCooking Channel is a television specialty channel that airs recurring programs about food and cooking, owned by Scripps Networks Interactive. It is a spinoff of Food Network, also owned by SNI, but focuses more on instructional shows rather than "reality style" and contest programming that Food...
shows as a host and a judge, owns and operates the Roast restaurant at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit. He has hosted the shows Food FeudsFood FeudsFood Feuds is a weekly series hosted by Iron Chef Michael Symon that premiered on Food Network October 10, 2010. The show features food rivalries or "feuds" between local restaurants in cities around the United States.-Synopsis:...
and Cook like an Iron Chef.
External links
- Book-Cadillac Detroit Hotel by Westin
- Book-Cadillac Detroit Residences by Westin
- Book-Cadillac Hotel at SkyscraperPage
- Book-Cadillac Hotel at Buildings of Detroit