The Book Cadillac, an Italian Renaissance-style hotel built by Detroit’s famous Book
brothers, was the tallest building in the city and tallest hotel in the world at its completion
in 1924. With 33 floors, a three-level basement, 1,136 guest rooms and penthouse that
boasted its very own radio station, the Book Cadillac was the most luxurious place to stay
in the city.
The hotel was meticulously designed and sumptuously decorated. A limestone exterior
complemented a spacious interior lobby, lavish public rooms, a grand crystal ballroom
and wood-paneled dining rooms.
During the hotel’s many reincarnations, presidents and celebrities continued to flock
there. By the late 1970s, however, the Book Cadillac became prey to downtown Detroit’s
downturn, and in 1984 it closed its doors.
The hotel stood abandoned and neglected for over 20 years. Then in 2008, after a labyrinth
of financing and other incentives, a hotel-condominium combo became the latest tenants
of a structure that refused to give up.
Below ground level, the story was a much different one. Large boilers sat rusted
and decayed - the result of being underwater for almost two decades. Only when the
renovation of 2008 took shape was the basement drained. Too expensive to remove,
the massive rusted boilers remain in their original location.
