Detroit Savings Bank

Built in 1895, this Richardsonian Romanesque-style building is the city’s oldest existing high-rise structure. Detroit Savings Bank (FKA Chamber of Commerce Building) was designed by Spier & Rohns, a leading Detroit architectural firm in practice during the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, and on April 16, 1894, the permit for the construction of 1212 Griswold Street was issued.

The Detroit Savings Bank has a historic connection to the Underground Railroad. In 1850, Seymour Finney purchased the plot of land and erected a tavern with a large barn. Finney was strongly sympathetic to the abolitionist cause and used his barn to hide escaping slaves before their final trek across the river to Canada. A State of Michigan marker is affixed to Detroit Savings Bank to commemorate Finney’s barn.