E.B. Smith & Company Bookstore (Detroit - 1868)

Status: Building no longer exists.

Upon renting out new storefronts on Woodward Ave., the proprietors of E.B. Smith & Co. book sellers spent $15,000 – a remarkable sum – on decoration. Customers could browse for books on either side of a of a fifteen-foot wooden arch that demarcated the two spaces. Both rooms were topped by elegantly frescoed ceilings decorated with “beautiful and appropriate designs” by William Wright & Co. “This . . . is a fine specimen of their workmanship,” The Detroit Free Press assured its readers.

               Sources: “A Splendid Store.” The Detroit Free Press. November 8, 1868.

Status: Studio moved locations in 1875, Grelling retired in 1888. Building used for a variety of other studios and businesses in subsequent years. Building demolished in 1936.

German-born, Detroit photographer Gottshalk Grelling opened a gallery and photography studio near the corner of Randolph and Jefferson in the summer of 1870. Grelling was a Detroit photographer for more than three decades and operated at this Jefferson Street location for five years. In addition to having several workrooms, the second-floor space boasted a handsome double parlor where oil paintings, watercolors, and enameled and porcelain portraits were displayed. Both the front and back parlors were decorated with deeply colored fabric-style wallpapers and were topped by ceilings frescoed “in Wm Wright & Co’s best style.”

               Sources: “City Improvements.” The Detroit Free Press. July 30, 1870.

Near State and Griswold Streets, in the shadow of the first Capitol, the commercial block shown here at 11 State Street, occupied by Jacob Beller, became August Frank’s storefront in 1879.

Status: Building no longer exists, destroyed by fire in 1911.

When the prosperous Detroit Board of Trade decided to decorate their new rooms in the Chamber of Commerce building, they hired the William Wright Company. The firm provided black walnut furniture for the project, carved in the popular Eastlake style. Descriptions of the President’s chair – the visual focus of the main assembly room – suggest that its proportions were akin to a small throne. In a nod to financial market tradition, its top back rail sported finials topped by the heads of a bull and a bear, symbols of growing and declining markets.

The President’s chair was topped by a canopy, above which hung a golden panel painted with the Michigan coat of arms. Above this, an unidentified Wright Co. artist painted a large allegorical triumvirate of female figures representing Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture.

Layered one upon another, and flanked by large bowed windows, it must have been a very impressive site.

               Sources: “A ‘Corner’ on the City.” The Detroit Free Press. February 19, 1879.

In 1896 Hazen Pingree was elected Governor of Michigan. He held the office for four years (two two-year terms). Interestingly, this 1898 photograph of Pingree at his desk in Lansing is the first identified image of a Governor in his private Capitol office. The original Wright Co. decorative wall schemes can be seen behind him.

Courtesy of Detroit News Archive.

John Breitmeyer started his floral business in a small old house on Miami Street in Detroit. In 1905, his son Philip Breitmeyer built a new 8-story building at the corner of Gratiot and Miami, which the family business moved into. Philip Breitmeyer went on to serve one term as Mayor of Detroit. The Breitmeyer Building still stands at Gratiot Avenue and Broadway Street.

Status: Building still exists at northeast corner of Gratiot Avenue and Broadway (formerly Miami) Street in Detroit.

“Like stepping out from the dull, commonplace brick and mortar of a twentieth century American business street into the enchanted interior of an ancient Italian villa, that was the impression made upon the hundreds who visited the opening of Breitmeyer Sons’ superb new building last night,” The Detroit Free Press waxed on December 12, 1905. The opening was attended by members of the Detroit Florists’ Club, who walked on white marble floors and examined their reflections in the French plate glass mirrors. Doubtlessly, many stopped to admire an ornate fountain bubbling under multi-colored lights that created tiny rainbows.

“But the wonders of Breitmeyer’s new store are not all confined to the main room,” the article continued. “Downstairs are a heating, lighting, and ice plant and a huge workroom all finished in white enameled wood, where the flowers will be sorted and packed.” Upstairs or down, it was another Wright Company success.

Sources: “Triumph of Beauty.” The Detroit Free Press. December 12, 1905.

The [Port Huron] Times Herald

Status: Unknown.

In late 1905, The [Port Huron] Times Herald printed a laudatory article hailing the “The Remodeled Commercial Bank – A Handsome Convenient and Up-to-Date Financial Institution.” It described, in great detail, a multi-month remodel and redecoration project carried out by Detroit’s William Wright Co. and William Inglis Wire & Iron Works.

Descriptions of the new interior suggest that it was rich, dark, and heavily reliant on then-popular old-world motifs. The vestibule sported marble wainscoting and a multi-colored mosaic floor with a Greek key border. The ceiling in the main room featured “Renaissance style” wooden beams and ornamental molding. The president’s office contained furniture upholstered in antique Spanish leather and an antique Indian rug.

The one consistent element that tied all the spaces together was widespread use of the color green – the color of American money.

Sources: “The Remodeled Commercial Bank.” The [Port Huron] Times Herald. November 23, 1905.

Photo Courtesy of Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection

This photograph shows the Ford Building shortly after its completion in 1908. To the left down Congress Street next door to the Ford is the greatly modified Wayne County Savings Bank building, then called the Congress Building.

Status: Upper floors were later added on and it was renamed the Congress Building. Demolished in 1932.

Sometimes building owners and their architectural firms preferred to split up, or subcontract, numerous facets of their projects. Architects Chittenden and Kotting worked with several different companies for the remodel of the Wayne County Savings Bank, including the National Safe & Lock Co. for vault work, Philip Christa & Sons for marble work, and the William Wright Co. for painting and cabinet work.

Interestingly, this was not the first time Wright’s team had worked in this structure. In 1877 Detroit Masons hired the William Wright Co. to decorate and furnish their rooms on the third and fourth floors of the building.

              Sources: “Remodel Wayne Co. Savings Bank.” The Detroit Free Press. August 20, 1905.

Status: Building still in use, interior remodeled.

Few Detroit structures are more iconic than the gold-topped Fisher Building, built during the heady auto boom days of the 1920s. Under that dome, on the top three floors, the Fisher brothers – Frederick, Charles, William, Lawrence, Edward, Alfred, and Howard – enjoyed a lavish three-story suite.  Comprised of offices, meeting rooms, a dining room, living room, kitchen, and a private elevator, the so-called “Golder Tower” was decorated by Charles Bacon, an interior decorator employed by the William Wright Co. As befitted the brothers’ wealth and taste, Bacon incorporated rich Persian rugs, heavy drapes, and elegant bronze chandeliers in his design. He also provided each of the brothers – whose father Lawrence had been a skilled woodworker – with a massive, hand-carved wooden desk.

Sources: “Fishes Family HQ-in-the-Sky Passes into Detroit’s History.” The Detroit Free Press. January 31, 1965.

Photos Courtesy Castle Museum of Saginaw County History

Status: Building still in use, interior remodeled.

When viewed through the lens of history, 1929 was not an auspicious time to commence a new bank building. That June, the Saginaw People’s Building and Loan Association broke ground for a six-story structure, which was completed in 1931. The Wright Company received the contract for the bank portion’s interior decoration, which featured bold, geometric, Art Deco designs in tan, black, reds, and gold. The Saginaw Daily News declared the scheme unconventional and strikingly futuristic. Perhaps it was a sign that, by 1931, everyone was hoping for a better days ahead.

Sources: “Formal Opening of New Building Scheduled Three Days This Week.” The Saginaw Daily News. March 24, 1931.