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The Penobscot Building is the majestic Art-Deco landmark of Detroit's skyline. Completed in 1928, the Griswold Street tower was named in honor of a Native American tribe whose sole link to the city was to live in the Maine woods deforested by a lumber baron, Simon J. Murphy, who came to Michigan to reap similar logging rewards here.

The Penobscot is actually three interconnected structures: the first was Murphy's original 13-story building, which opened its Fort Street doors in 1906, a year after his death. A decade later, a 23-story Penobscot II went up adjacent to it. By the mid-1920s, a serious office-space shortage incited a downtown building boom. The grand, 47-story tower now known as the Penobscot Building was Detroit's tallest structure for almost 50 years when it was finished in 1928.

The Penobscot borrows its name from the "Panawahpskek" or Penobscot Nation of Maine, who lent their name to the nearby Penobscot River. The skyscraper' s architect, Wirt C. Rowland of Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls, also designed the two siblings to the Penobscot, the nearby Buhl and Guardian buildings, which give Detroit's Financial District such harmonious appeal. Rowland's Penobscot tower rises 30 stories straight up from the street level, then begins its setbacks up to its peak, atop which sits the landmark's distinctive red neon beacon, visible on a clear day from 40 miles away.

The Penobscot provided office space for attorneys, financial institutions, and other business during its heyday. While the granite and Indiana limestone façade may be a bit plain, the Penobscot features some impressive interior decorative elements: Native American motifs dominate in the entrance archway and metalwork throughout, and come into play in the spectacular bronze elevator doors.

The Renaissance Center dwarfed the Penobscot when it was erected at the riverfront in 1977 and replaced the venerable landmark's claim as Detroit's tallest building. The Penobscot is still home to dozens of small law firms, insurance agencies, and financial-services companies. The uniquely Detroit urban soundtrack, booming from car stereos across the city on summer nights, emanates from the Penobscot tower-home to the city's leading R&B radio station, WJLB-FM.