Detroit Free Press Building
Albert Kahn’s 1925 limestone tower on Lafayette Boulevard served the Detroit Free Press for over seventy years before Bedrock Detroit transformed it into one of the city’s most celebrated apartment conversions.
At a glance
Completed in 1925 to the designs of Albert Kahn Associates, the Detroit Free Press Building stands fourteen stories above Lafayette Boulevard in downtown Detroit, its stepped limestone facade a demonstration of Art Deco’s ability to marry vertical ambition with ornamental restraint. The newspaper moved out in 1998 and the building stood vacant for nearly two decades, surviving auctions, failed redevelopment schemes, and the broader decline of Detroit’s downtown. Listed in 2009 as a contributing property of the Detroit Financial District on the National Register of Historic Places, it reopened in 2020 after a $113 million renovation as The Press/321, with 105 apartments, offices, and street-level retail.
Key facts
- Completed: 1925 (construction began 1924)
- Architect: Albert Kahn Associates
- Style: Art Deco / Art Moderne
- Address: 321 W. Lafayette Boulevard, Detroit, Michigan 48226
- NRHP: December 14, 2009 — Detroit Financial District (ref. 09001067)
- Michigan Historic: January 8, 1981
- Floors: 14 above ground + 2 below; 302,400 sq ft
- GPS: 42.3300°N, 83.0508°W
History
Albert Kahn — already famous for his automobile factories — brought the same structural clarity to the Detroit Free Press Building. The building combined editorial and business offices with printing facilities on the lower floors and rental space above, a mixed-use model standard for major newspapers of the era. Neon signs of the Free Press logo blazed from the roof, facing north and south, for decades.
Printing moved out in 1979 when a new production facility opened on West Jefferson Avenue. In 1989, the editorial offices followed, consolidating with the Detroit News at 615 West Lafayette under a joint operating agreement. By 1998 the building was entirely vacant. A succession of owners across the 2000s proposed condominiums, a film studio, apartments — none succeeded. In 2013 a Chinese investment group bought it for $4.15 million. In September 2016 Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock Detroit acquired the property for $8.425 million and launched the $113 million conversion that reopened in September 2020 as The Press/321.
The building’s transformation is part of the broader revival of Detroit’s downtown core, where a cluster of historic Art Deco towers — once left for dead — has become a sought-after address for residents and office tenants alike.
What you see
The Free Press Building is a steel-frame structure faced in limestone, its surface articulated by the stepped massing typical of late 1920s skyscrapers: a central tower flanked by lower wings, each set back to let the crown read cleanly against the sky. The Art Deco detailing is restrained but precise. Bas-relief figures by sculptor Ulysses A. Ricci, positioned where the vertical piers meet the building’s cornice, symbolize commerce and communication in the compressed, stylized idiom of the era. Ricci worked extensively in New York’s Art Deco skyscrapers; his presence at Lafayette Boulevard places the Free Press Building in a national conversation.
At street level, the building anchors the Detroit Financial District. Across Lafayette Boulevard, the Penobscot Building (1928) and other limestone towers from the same decade create one of the most intact Art Deco streetscapes outside of Manhattan. The renovation stripped away a mid-century curtain wall to restore the original facade, making what you see today closer to Kahn’s 1925 vision than at any point since the 1970s.
Practical information
- Current use: Residential apartments (The Press/321), offices, street-level retail
- Access: Lobby at 321 W. Lafayette Boulevard; QLINE streetcar (Fort/Cass stop) nearby
- Visiting: The building is primarily residential; the exterior is visible from the sidewalk at any time
- Photography: Best from the south side of Lafayette Boulevard for the full facade; the west side reveals the stepped tower profile
Getting there
The building stands in the heart of downtown Detroit, one block north of the Detroit People Mover (Fort/Cass station) and within walking distance of Campus Martius Park. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) is approximately twenty-five miles southwest. From Chicago, Detroit is about four and a half hours east via I-94. Several parking structures are available within a block on Lafayette Boulevard.
Nearby
- Guardian Building (1929) — Art Deco “Cathedral of Finance,” three blocks east, one of Detroit’s greatest interiors
- Penobscot Building (1928) — Art Deco tower across Lafayette Boulevard, part of the same Detroit Financial District
- Campus Martius Park — civic heart of downtown Detroit, four blocks north
Sources
- National Register of Historic Places, Detroit Financial District, ref. 09001067
- Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, listed January 8, 1981
- Hill, Eric J., and John Gallagher. AIA Detroit Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press, 2002.
- Sharoff, Robert. American City: Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press, 2005.
- Wikipedia: “Detroit Free Press Building” (accessed 2026-07-06)
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