Scraping The 19th Century Sky

      As it has been since 1977, barring calamity, Detroit is stuck with the glassy middle tower of the Renaissance Center as its tallest building.   The proposed "Motor City Tower", a 60 story building which would outdo it by nearly one hundred feet is appropriately listed on SkyscraperPage.com as having a status of "fantasy".  (Which in this case is a good thing because an uglier building could not be designed.  It looks like an 820 foot tall freeway rest stop).  No, there aren't any taller buildings coming to Detroit in, let's say, anyone who's reading this lifetime.  That's too bad because the Renaissance Center really fails in the important tall building criteria of inspiring awe.  In fact, it's aweless.   This is especially true when compared to its predecessor, the Penobscot building, which had been the city's tallest structure for almost fifty years before the Renaissance Center came blundering into town, surrounded by a group of underlings, and plopped itself down by the river with an unbudging display of schlock.

    But before the Penobscot's long reign, and before a handful of other buildings briefly claimed the distinction, one pinnacle ruled Detroit's sky for 32 years from 1877 to 1909.  This is the steeple of the Fort Street Presbyterian Church, still stabbing the sky on the corner of Third street.  At 265 feet (81m) it is so tall that when Detroit's first "skyscraper" was built, the lowly ten-story Hammond building in 1889, it still didn't surpass the height of the steeple.  In 1909 it was the 19-story Ford Building which finally topped it by a mere ten feet.  For an idea of just how tall the steeple is: it is higher than the Kales building, the MGM Grand hotel, Michigan Central Station, the United Artists building, the Water Board building, and is only about seven feet short of the David Whitney building.  That's one hell of a steeple. 
    Despite the best efforts of the Detroit Historical Museum to recreate the streets of old Detroit in its basement; to get a feel for the city's 19th century skyline you really need to go to the corner of Fort and Third, as it is unlikely this steeple will be replicated in their cellar anytime soon.    

     Also remarkable is that, technically, this is only a one-story building.  Assuming Jesus doesn't pass up Detroit on his second-coming World Tour, he is going to be very impressed.