Breitmeyer-Tobin Building

If you liked this item, please rate it up on Steam Workshop page.

Author: Darf

Last revision: 23 Jun, 2019 at 14:59 UTC

File size: 3.75 MB

On Steam Workshop

Description:

Please leave a vote or comment if you download this asset! This is a lvl 4 High residential corner 2×3 growable based on the Breitmeyer – Tobin Building in Detroit.

About the model
A new model for my Rebuilding Detroit series. This is quite a heavy model with about 6026 tris and a 2048×512 texture. Normal mapped, illuminationmap and specularmapped. It’s a corner building, so quite a bit work and that might also explain to you why the amount of tris quite high.
LoD is around 32 tris, 512×128.

You can always follow my assetcreations on the Simtropolis forums: http://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/68841-darfs-buildings-the-dorilton-new-victory-theater/ or on sketchfab: https://sketchfab.com/sannie01

RICO
This building is RICO ready, enable it in the settings menu.

About the building
The building was designed by the architectural firm of Raseman & Fisher. A permit for the structure was issued on May 12, 1905, and the eight-story building was constructed in 1906 ar a cost of $120,000. The building which was a pioneer office building east of Woodward Avenue in 1906, was built by John Breitmeyer Sons, Florists, the premier florist in the city of Detroit. Phillip Breitmeyer, its president, served as mayor of Detroit from 1909-10, largely an uneventful term during which he was responsible for the widening of some of Detroit’s streets and thoroughfares.

Following his term in office, Phillip Breitmeyer returned to private life continuing his influence as a nationally respected and influential horticulturist. He re-entered the political arena in 1933, emerging from retirement to become a mayor but was defeated by Frank Couzens. In 1937, Mr. Breitmeyer became a candidate for Council and was elected but was defeated for re-election in 1939. Breitmeyer died in April 1941.

In 1926, the ownership of the building was transferred and the building renamed the Peninsular State Bank Building.
In 1936, with the building approximately 75% vacant. the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, eighth floor occupants in the building and an insurance company noted for its willingness to grant small business policies to Black people, stopped its practice of sending agents from house-to-house to collect premiums. This led to a steady stream of Blacks entering the building to make payments in person. It is interesting to note that they were made to use a special, non-stop rear elevator to Metropolitan Life’s offices. It was about this time that the building first began renting office space to Black tenants, one of the first downtown buildings to do so

The Peninsular State Bank went into receivership in 1941, and for a period of approximately four years the ownership of the building was embroiled in the courts. Benjamin Tobin acquired full ownership of the building in 1944, although the building name had been changed to the Tobin Building as early as 1944.

Faced with a large vacancy rate and the already established precedent of Blacks coming to the building, Ben Tobin undoubtedly saw the solicitation of Black tenants as a potential money-maker. He invited the elite and well-known Black professionals of the city to take office space in the building. Evidence of a policy of renting to Black professionals is provided by a full page advertisement in the Official Business & Professional Guilde of Detroit (6th Edition), copyrighted in 1945. This guide to the Black community carried a full page advertisement for the Tobin Building, which the line "Best Professional Address." As a result, many of Detroit’s prominent Black professionals were associated with the Tobin Building.
Changes