Untitled, photo by BareBonesDetroit

Last week the David Stott Building, Detroit’s 13th tallest skyscraper, sold at auction for just under $9 million. Historic Detroit’s page on the David Stott Building begins:

A towering Art Deco structure honoring Detroit’s flour king, the David Stott Building stretches 38 stories above Capitol Park at the corner of State and Griswold streets.

Construction began on June 1, 1928. The tower cost $3.5 million to build – the equivalent of $46.3 million today, when adjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Stott opened on June 17, 1929, on what had been the sites of the Garrick Theatre, Hodges Building and the Whitney Office Building. It was designed by the architectural firm of Donaldson & Meier, though Henry Meier had died more than a decade earlier. The general contractor was the Martin & Krausmann Co.

The 436-foot tower was first conceived in 1921, and 22 sets of plans were drawn up before a winner was picked. The property was not particularly wide considering the building’s height, which created headaches for Donaldson and led him to go with a tall, slender design.

The tower is made of reddish-orange brick – faced on the first three floors with marble — and limestone, and has several setbacks that taper as the building climbs. “As the new David Stott Building rises a tall, slender but substantial mass of old rose colored brick, it makes a spectacle that arrests the attention and causes the spectator to view it in detail from the sidewalk to the uppermost of its 38 stories,” the Detroit News wrote in June 1929. “The tendency of architectural style in office buildings the country over is toward more lively colors — more lively, but still dignified, warm, pleasing to the eye.”

Read on for more of the history of this hard-luck structure and DEFINITELY click through to view their gallery of historic photos of the David Stott Building – it’s great! You can also follow the listing and sale of the Stott Building at Curbed Detroit.

Check it out bigger and see more in BareBones Detroit’s Rooftops slideshow.

More architecture on Michigan in Pictures.