Battle Creek Tower

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Coordinates: 42°19′17″N 85°11′03″W / 42.32139°N 85.18417°W / 42.32139; -85.18417 (Central National Tower)
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Central National Tower
Location70 W. Michigan Ave., Battle Creek, Michigan
Coordinates42°19′17″N 85°11′03″W / 42.32139°N 85.18417°W / 42.32139; -85.18417 (Central National Tower)
Arealess than one acre
Built1931 (1931)
ArchitectJohn A. Holabird, John Wellborn Root Jr.
Architectural styleArt Deco
NRHP reference No.08000218[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 20, 2008

The Battle Creek Tower is a mixed-use commercial and residential building located at 70 West Michigan Avenue in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was originally built as the Central National Tower, and designed as an office building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.[1]

History

Central National Tower, c. 1940

Central National Bank was founded in 1903 and was one of the many of the banks in Battle Creek at the time and was part of the "Bank Corners". The bank was originally headquartered at 2 West Main St (Now West Michigan Avenue.) In 1929,

American Flag were mounted atop the Tower. The tornado siren is tested monthly on the 1st Saturday at 1PM. In 1978, Transamerica Insurance Corporation bought the Wolverine Insurance Company, along with the nearby Riverside Insurance Company and Premier Insurance Company. Wolverine Insurance Company became the Wolverine-Transamerica Insurance Corporation of Battle Creek, and a light up W & T where the W & F sign was. In 1984, the building became the Transamerica Tower. Nationwide Insurance bought the Wolverine Insurance Company and merged becoming the Nationwide-Wolverine Insurance Company and began a $9 million improvements on the elevators, electrical systems and sprinkler systems. In 2000, Nationwide sold the building to the Hinman Company and planned to move its employees to Iowa, in which most of them refused and Nationwide retained offices in the building. In that same year, the Hinman Company, who recently had the building sold to them, renamed the building the Battle Creek Tower and redeveloped the building into a mixed use development, with the upper floors redesigned as residential space.[3]

Description

The Battle Creek Tower is a twenty-one-story tower designed in the Art Deco style. It has a nearly square-plan tower located in front along Michigan Avenue, and a four-story section extending to the rear. The exterior of the tower is faced with buff-colored Indiana Oolitic limestone, perched on a black granite base. The front facade is 66 feet wide and symmetrical. The main central entrance is set into a large square-head portal which is faced with gray granite. An American Flag and a Federal Thunderbolt Siren are both mounted atop the building. The third and seventeenth floors contain a series of carved limestone panels with stylized floral motifs. Deeply recessed vertical window banks on the tower emphasize the vertical lines of the tower.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. ^ Peggy J. Parks; Andrea Riegler (September 29, 2007), National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Central National Tower, National Park Service
  3. ^ a b c "History of the Tower". Hinman Company. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
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