The Penobscot Building

The Penobscot Building spent nearly 50 years as Detroit’s tallest skyscraper, and its defining feature is impossible to miss even if you don’t know the building’s name: a 12-foot diameter red beacon orb, perched atop a neon tower, that was originally an aviation beacon and could reportedly be seen from 40 miles away when lit. It’s the third and largest of Wirt C. Rowland’s three great Detroit Art Deco towers — the same architect behind the Guardian Building and the Buhl Building — completed in 1928 for lumber baron Simon Murphy’s family at the height of Detroit’s building boom.

The lobby, reached through an imposing four-story limestone entrance arch on Griswold Street, is generally open to the public and free to walk through, with Corrado Parducci’s carved Native American-inspired motifs running through the stonework and the elevator doors. It’s connected underground to two older, smaller Penobscot buildings that together make up the Penobscot Block, and its restaurant, the Caucus Club, has its own claim to fame: Barbra Streisand launched her career performing there in 1961.

On our radar for the skyline’s most recognizable beacon and one more free Art Deco lobby to add to a downtown architecture walk.