The Detroit Club was formed on Oct. 11, 1882, when lawyer Samuel Douglas and Banker James T. Campbell decided to rent a small house on Lafayette Street.

The principle behind the club was to create a space where businessmen could come to fraternize and talk with one another about business. The founding membership of the Detroit Club consisted of 10 local businessmen - including Douglas and Campbell.

Shortly after opening the club on Lafayette, the private social club recruited 100 more businessmen to join, including Hugh McMillan, the founder of the Michigan Telephone Co., and former Michigan Gov. Russell A. Alger.

Quickly outgrowing its current clubhouse on Lafayette, the members enlisted architect Wilson Eyre of Philadelphia to construct this new clubhouse on the northeast corner of Cass Avenue and West Fort Street. Detroit architect John Scott was the associate architect, handling things on the ground while Eyre was in Philly. The club's new Romanesque Revival-style building was completed in 1891.

Overall, the club's current floor plan still follows Wilson Eyre's design for the Detroit Club. Though the primary public interior spaces are largely unchanged, many of the secondary rooms have been somewhat modified or reconfigured. Nevertheless, like the exterior, the interior has retained a large measure of its historic integrity, including many of the details, fixtures and furnishings.

More info on this building coming soon.