To spot the Cadillac Tower, look straight ahead for a very tall, narrow skyscraper covered in rows of windows and topped with spiky decorative elements and a thin mast reaching into the sky.
Alright, pause here for a moment and imagine it’s 1927-the city is buzzing, jazz melodies drift from nearby clubs, and the Cadillac Tower is making its grand entrance onto the Detroit skyline. Can you feel the excitement? Because back then, this 40-story giant wasn’t just another building-it was a record-breaker! Outside of New York and Chicago, nobody had dared to go this tall. People must have craned their necks and stared in awe at what was, for Michigan, a kind of skyscraper superhero.
Now, if you take a close look, you’ll notice the building’s sharp Neo-Gothic design. Its tall, slender profile is decorated with intricate cornices and spires at the corners and center-kind of like a stone crown fit for a king… or maybe, a well-dressed radio antenna, which you’ll see if you squint up to the very top! That mast is there for local radio and television stations. The whole structure is made of terra cotta and brick, which, when it was new, must have seemed impossibly modern and fancy.
The Cadillac Tower didn’t start out with this name though. It was actually known as Barlum Tower when it first opened. Why the name change? Well, like a great magician, Detroit buildings love a bit of mystery and stage presence! But the real secret lies just next door-back in 1919, there was another giant, the 20-story Cadillac Square Building. Because these two towers were shoulder to shoulder, the west side of the Cadillac Tower got only a few windows-like a shy sibling not wanting to peek over its brother’s shoulder. The old neighbor was torn down in the 1970s, but if those walls could talk, they'd tell stories of a bustling Detroit in its roaring prime.
Over the years, the Cadillac Tower has doubled as a canvas for Detroit’s sporting legends. For six years, Barry Sanders leaped across one side of the building as a 14-story mural, cheered on by thousands of fans and a very likely confused flock of downtown pigeons. After Barry, hockey legend Steve Yzerman moved in, before finally giving way to a roaring MGM Grand lion.
Today, the Cadillac Tower may not be Detroit’s newest shining star, but its spirit is alive and full of future promise. In 2021, the building found a new owner, ready to dream up its next act in the city’s ongoing adventure. So go ahead, give it a wave-after all, not every building gets to wear a crown and play billboard to the stars!
