Hotel Fort Wayne

03 / The story of this place

What was here?

The Fort Wayne opened in 1926, the same year as the giant Masonic Temple next door. Weston & Ellington designed the 300-room hotel, which cost $1.8 million with land. Named for Detroit's fort, it had the usual 1920s comforts plus a rarity: bowling alleys in the basement, and the Knights of Pythias took the whole second floor. It did well into the 1950s, was modernized and renamed the American Hotel in the late 1960s, and slid into life as a Cass Corridor dive before closing, in the early 2000s by Historic Detroit's count or the early 1990s by Wikipedia's. The Ilitch family announced 163 apartments here in 2017 as part of The District Detroit, but work had not started as of May 2021.

• Opened 1926 next to the Masonic Temple
• Bowling alleys in the basement
• 163 apartments announced in 2017

Former names

Hotel Fort Wayne (1926–late 1960s) · American Hotel (late 1960s–closing)

Architect

Weston & Ellington

What’s there now?

The empty building still stands beside the Masonic Temple, within The District Detroit.