Breitmeyer-Tobin Building
Encyclopedia
The Harmonie Centre, also known as the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building, is an eight-story commercial building located at 1308 Broadway Street (at the corner of Broadway and Gratiot) in Detroit, Michigan
. It is part of the Broadway Avenue Historic District
. It is also known as the Tobin Building. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1980. The east necklace of downtown links Grand Circus and the stadium area to Greektown along Broadway. The east neckace contains a sub-district sometimes called the Harmonie Park District, which has taken on the renowned legacy of Detroit's music from the 1930s through the 1950s and into the present.
, served as the mayor of Detroit from 1909-1911.
In 1926, the ownership of the building was transferred to the Peninsular Bank Company, and the building was renamed the Peninsular Bank Building. The bank failed, and ten years later, in the depths of the Great Depression
, the building was 75% unoccupied; the main tenant was the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, who occupied the top floor. Metropolitan was notable for its willingness to write small insurance policies for African-Americans. At around the same time, the owners of the building opened up office space to rental by African-Americans; the building was one of the first downtown to do so.
In 1944, Benjamin Tobin acquired the building, renamed it the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building, and marketed the office space to black professionals. Notable African-American firms had offices in the building, including the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (the largest Black union in America at the time); the law firm of Loomis, Jones, Piper and Colden; attorney Harold Bledsoe; optometrists William H. and Lloyd Lawson; and future judges Damon Keith and Hobart Taylor Jr.
The building has recently been refurbished, with commercial space on the first floor and various offices in the upper floors.
elements.
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"....
. It is part of the Broadway Avenue Historic District
Broadway Avenue Historic District (Detroit, Michigan)
The Broadway Avenue Historic District is a historic district located on a single city block along Broadway Avenue between Gratiot and East Grand River in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004...
. It is also known as the Tobin Building. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1980. The east necklace of downtown links Grand Circus and the stadium area to Greektown along Broadway. The east neckace contains a sub-district sometimes called the Harmonie Park District, which has taken on the renowned legacy of Detroit's music from the 1930s through the 1950s and into the present.
History
The Breitmeyer-Tobin Building was built for John Breitmeyer Sons, Florists, who were at the time the leading florists in Detroit. The firm's president, Philip BreitmeyerPhilip Breitmeyer
Philip Breitmeyer was a florist, one of the founders of Florists' Telegraph Delivery , and the mayor of Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:...
, served as the mayor of Detroit from 1909-1911.
In 1926, the ownership of the building was transferred to the Peninsular Bank Company, and the building was renamed the Peninsular Bank Building. The bank failed, and ten years later, in the depths of 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...
, the building was 75% unoccupied; the main tenant was the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, who occupied the top floor. Metropolitan was notable for its willingness to write small insurance policies for African-Americans. At around the same time, the owners of the building opened up office space to rental by African-Americans; the building was one of the first downtown to do so.
In 1944, Benjamin Tobin acquired the building, renamed it the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building, and marketed the office space to black professionals. Notable African-American firms had offices in the building, including the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (the largest Black union in America at the time); the law firm of Loomis, Jones, Piper and Colden; attorney Harold Bledsoe; optometrists William H. and Lloyd Lawson; and future judges Damon Keith and Hobart Taylor Jr.
The building has recently been refurbished, with commercial space on the first floor and various offices in the upper floors.
Description
The eight-story building is an unusual Beaux Arts building from the turn of the century. It includes glazed terra cottaTerra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
elements.