Harmonie Centre facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Harmonie Centre
(Breitmeyer-Tobin Building) |
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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View from Gratiot Avenue
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| Location | 1308 Broadway Street Detroit, Michigan |
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| Built | 1906 |
| Architect | Raseman & Fischer |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| Part of | Broadway Avenue Historic District (ID04000656) |
| NRHP reference No. | 80001918 |
| Added to NRHP | March 10, 1980 |
The Harmonie Centre, also known as the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building, is a tall, eight-story building in downtown Detroit, Michigan. You can find it at 1308 Broadway Street, right where Broadway and Gratiot meet. This building is an important part of the Broadway Avenue Historic District. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 because of its special history.
The area around the Harmonie Centre is sometimes called the Harmonie Park District. This district is famous for Detroit's amazing music history, especially from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Building History
The Breitmeyer-Tobin Building was built in 1906. It was originally made for John Breitmeyer Sons, Florists. At that time, they were the most important flower sellers in Detroit. The company's president, Philip Breitmeyer, even served as the mayor of Detroit from 1909 to 1911. A mayor is the leader of a city.
In 1926, the Peninsular Bank Company took over the building. They changed its name to the Peninsular Bank Building. However, the bank later failed, meaning it went out of business. Ten years later, during the Great Depression (a very difficult economic time), about 75% of the building was empty. The main tenant was the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. They had their offices on the top floor. This company was known for offering small insurance policies to African-Americans. Around the same time, the building's owners started renting office space to African-Americans. This was one of the first buildings downtown to do so.
In 1944, a man named Benjamin Tobin bought the building. He renamed it the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building. Mr. Tobin then offered office space specifically to Black professionals. Many important African-American businesses and individuals had offices there. This included the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which was the largest Black labor union in America at the time. Other notable tenants were the law firm of Loomis, Jones, Piper and Colden, attorney Harold Bledsoe, and optometrists William H. and Lloyd Lawson. Future judges Damon Keith and Hobart Taylor Jr. also had offices in the building.
Recently, the building has been updated and repaired. It now has shops and businesses on the first floor. The upper floors are used for various offices.
Building Design
The Harmonie Centre is an eight-story building. It was designed by the architectural company Raseman & Fischer. It has a special design style called Beaux-Arts. This style was popular around the turn of the 20th century. The building also features shiny, decorative clay pieces called glazed terra cotta.
See also
In Spanish: Harmonie Centre para niños
