Business & brands / Architecture & design
David Whitney Jr.
1830–1900 · lumber baron, real estate investor
Lumber baron who became one of Michigan's richest men and built the pink jasper mansion on Woodward Avenue now known as The Whitney restaurant.
- Born
Watertown, Massachusetts- Died
Detroit, Michigan- Detroit years
- 1857–1900
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Whitney made his first fortune in the lumber trade in Lowell, Massachusetts, and moved to Detroit in 1857, at 27. With his brother Charles he expanded into the white-pine forests of Michigan and into Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania, and invested heavily in Detroit real estate and Great Lakes shipping. By the end of the century he was counted among the wealthiest people in Michigan. Between 1890 and 1894 he built a Romanesque Revival mansion on Woodward Avenue, designed by Gordon W. Lloyd and faced in rose-pink jasper, with dozens of rooms and elaborate art-glass windows. He died in 1900; his family stayed in the house until 1920. Since 1986 the mansion has operated as The Whitney restaurant. The David Whitney Building on Grand Circus Park, completed in 1915 and named for him, reopened in 2014 as a hotel and apartments after years of vacancy.
Highlights
- Moved to Detroit in 1857
- Built the David Whitney House on Woodward Avenue, 1890–1894
- The mansion has been The Whitney restaurant since 1986
- The David Whitney Building (1915) reopened in 2014
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Lived here · 1894–1900
The Ghostbar at The Whitney
His pink jasper mansion in Midtown, a restaurant since 1986.
Memorial
David Whitney Building
The 1915 office tower on Grand Circus Park named for him; restored as a hotel and apartments in 2014.