AT&T Building

The AT&T Building is an Art-deco skyscraper designed by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls and built between 1912 and 1928 in Detroit, MI.

AT&T Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The AT&T Building is also known, or has been known as, Michigan Bell Building, SBC Building, or Ameritech Building.

Its precise street address is 1365 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI. You can also find it on the map here.

The building underwent a major restoration between 1927 and 1928. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was Stmith, Hinchman & Grylls.

Smith, Hinchman & Grylls was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design. But there was also one other architect involved, as far as we know. We are talking about Wirt C. Rowland.

Smith, Hinchman & Grylls and the other architects already mentioned were in charge of the architectural design, however, architecture is a complex discipline, which usually involves many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Pontiac Construction and H.G. Christman-Burke Co as the Main Contractor.

The AT&T Building can be categorized as an Art-deco building.

The AT&T Building was completed in 1928, right when the Art Deco movement was at its peak, so it kind of went with the trend at that time.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a light-colored limestone cladding on the first three floors, and dark-colored briks from there on. The light limestone reapears on the 8th floor to empathise the junction of the first and second structure, and the again on the last floor. Brick pillars every two windows continue all the way to the top of the building, ending in a sem-circled arch. The sloping roof is covered with patinated copper plates.