File:Guardian Building, Griswold Street, Detroit, MI - 53026494367.jpg

English: Built in 1929, this Art Deco-style skyscraper was designed by Wirt C. Rowland and Smith, Hinchman and Grylls for the Union Trust Company, and was originally known as the Union Trust Building, later being renamed the Guardian Building. The building was one of the first in the world to feature automatic push-button elevators, and Monel metal fixtures, metal elements, and metal fittings. The building housed the Union Trust Company until 1932, when it went into receivership due to unsustainable growth during the 1920s economic boom and the impact of the Great Depression. The building housed various office tenants after the demise of the bank, including the United States Army Command Center for wartime production during World War II, and became the headquarters of Michigan Consolidated Gas Company in 1982, which led to the restoration of the exterior and interior of the building, with the company remaining in the building until it merged with DTE Energy in 2001, after which it was sold to Sterling Group in 2002. The building features a 36-story section that runs parallel to Griswold Street between a 40-story tower at the northern Congress Street end of the building, which rises to 496 feet (151 meters) above the street, with a spire that soars to 632 feet (192 meters), and a 38-story tower at the southern Larned Street end of the building. The extieor is clad in red brick with decorative polychromatic terra cotta trim with geometric motifs, red granite and limestone cladding at the base with large arched windows into the former main banking hall, a recessed main entrance with decorative polychromatic trim on the half-dome ceiling and ziggurat-shaped window bays, a large arched window bay trimmed with polychromatic terra cotta on the Congress Street facade, Monel metal flagpoles with decorative bases, and carved sculptural reliefs of figures on the Griswold Street facade. Inside, the building’s main lobby features a colorful polychromatic tile ceiling with octagonal and rectangular tiles, ziggurat vaults, abstract geometric forms, decorative metal elevator doors, stained glass windows, a tile mosaic behind the front desk with a ziggurat-shaped tree, limestone-clad walls, a barrel vaulted ceiling, a large Monel metal screen at the entrance to the banking hall, red marble trim at the stone stairs, a clock at the entrance to the banking hall, stone steps to the banking hall and the current Wayne County Commission chambers below, stone floors with ziggurat motifs, and decorative pendants at the elevators. The banking hall features a vaulted ceiling with arched openings and decorative polychromatic panels, a large map of the state of Michigan at the south end of the space in a large arched blind bay with symbols of the state’s various industries, stone floors, stone-clad walls, decorative ziggurat motifs on the pillars, walls, and floor, and a large Monel metal screen at the entrance. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1989, and is a contributing structure in the Detroit Financial District Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. In 2007, the building was purchased by the Wayne County Government, and became the home of their offices and chambers in 2010, when they were moved from the Old Wayne County Building nearby. The building today houses the offices and chambers of the Wayne County Government, as well as several other office tenants.