211 West Fort Street vs Coleman A. Young Municipal Center

Comparing the 211 West Fort Street and the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center is interesting because they both rise in Detroit, MI, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Harley, Ellington, Cowin & Stirton and Harley, Ellington and Day, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 9 years apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Detroit across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The 211 West Fort Street is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 367ft (112m) with 27 floors above ground, while the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center reaches 318ft (97m) with 19 floors above ground.

Of course, each project may have faced different briefs or regulatory constraints, which we don't really know about and could also explain the outcome.

Both the 211 West Fort Street and the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Harley, Ellington, Cowin & Stirton and Harley, Ellington and Day followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 211 West Fort Street is primarily commercial, while the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center is primarily governmental.

These two towers illustrate the many possible ways to combine structure and enclosure in skyscraper design.