The First Federal Bank Building, now known as "1001 Woodward," was built between 1963 and 1965 in downtown Detroit. It stands on the site of the former Majestic Building at 1001 Woodward Ave.
In 1961, officials of First Federal Savings and Loan announced details of a plan to build a gleaming new modern skyscraper downtown. It would be the first general office building with rental space to go up in downtown Detroit since the 1930s. The plans called for a building that cost $10 million, about $77 million in 2024. The bank’s new home would be tall, and it would be grand. And it would be built on the site of the Majestic.
A Majestic death
With city leaders looking to prove that Detroit was still hip, still growing and still business-friendly, the Majestic was doomed. Mayor Louis Miriani even agreed to sacrifice Old City Hall to provide more parking for First Federal’s employees and customers. The Majestic closed for good on July 14, 1961, when Butler’s Shoes became the last tenant to move out.
On Oct. 20, 1961, First Federal announced the final details of the building that would take the Majestic’s place. Mayor Miriani could not have been happier to have a new modern skyscraper.
“It’s just a year ago Walter (Gehrke, board chairman of the bank) said, ‘Get rid of Old City Hall and we’ll give you a new building,” Miriani told the Free Press. “We kept our word to get it out, and (the bank has) kept their word to get it in.” The new building was “another example of what can be accomplished through the spirit of cooperation between business and city government.”
The night following the bank’s big announcement, the death fence went up around the Majestic. The next day, the Majestic would meet its un-makers. Shortly before noon, three cranes queued up on Michigan Avenue as they waited to hitch a ride into the sky and onto the Majestic. They parked along the grave of Old City Hall, which had been relegated to the history books a month earlier. Painted on the sides of these heavy-metal marauders were their names: Big Push, a 5-ton tractor-type loader and scoop; Mighty Mo III, a 220-foot diesel-powered craned and boom — and Poopsie, a 5-ton bantam crane with a 550-foot boom from which dangled a 1,700-pound steel wrecking ball.
Mo slowly hoisted its companions to the top in late October 1961 in order to bring the Majestic down floor by floor. Big Push touched down first on the top of the 14th floor and immediately got to work. Bouncing around like a pinball, it had to make room for its buddy. Detroiters stopped to snap photos of the doomed landmark, a last chance for a lasting memento. Day after day, the skyscraper was slowly brought down from the sky.
A modern masterpiece rises
The 25-story First Federal Building would be completed in 1965. Unlike the old-timey terra cotta that graced its predecessor, the new skyscraper would be faced in sharp, modern-looking black granite and fashioned in the International style of architecture.
The building still stands today, though it is now known as 1001 Woodward. This new addition to what some considered an aged, even senile, skyline was heralded as part of the reinvention of Detroit. The city seemed determined to not live in the shadows of its past success, but to re-create itself in a new era of glory.
The “twin towers, with their soaring vertical lines and dark granite surfaces, make a strong architectural statement and add a new vitality to the core of the city,” William Hawkins Ferry wrote in his "The Buildings of Detroit."
The Detroit architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls would take home the Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1967 for the 338-foot building.
This new stately structure, one might say, was appointed to carry on a majestic tradition at the corner of Michigan and Woodward.
More on this building coming soon.