500 Griswold Street
Detroit, Wayne County

Designation and Designation Date

• National Historic Landmark, listed June 29, 1989
• National Register, listed June 29, 1989

Architect, Builder, or Designer(s)

• Wirt C. Rowland (of Smith, Hinchman and Grylls), architect
• Mary Chase Perry Stratton, ceramics artist

Significant Date(s), Notes

• 1928, building completed

Significance Statement

The Guardian Building is part of the progression of the American skyscraper that began with Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building in New York and is one of the most exuberant Art Deco skyscrapers built in America. Brilliantly colored Arts and Crafts tiles and orange brick, formulated especially for this building, cover the thirty-six-story steel-frame structure. From its location on an entire block in the financial district, the warm and colorful bank building exudes a friendly cordiality.

The building is profusely ornamented inside and out with geometric designs executed in brilliantly colored terra cotta and glazed tile, and gold-stained glass and metal. Because of its plan, its lofty banking room with nave and side aisles, and its sumptuous decoration, the bank and office building appropriately was termed a "cathedral of finance."

For information about any of the programs described on this site, write the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan Historical Center, P.O. Box 30740, 702 W. Kalamazoo St., Lansing, MI 48909-8240, or call us at (517) 373-1630.