[3] Over the years, the luxury hotel attracted wealthy guests such as Horace Dodge, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mae West, Frank Sinatra and The Beatles.

[3] During Prohibition, the hotel's convenient access to the Detroit River and Canada made it popular with underworld types, including the Purple Gang.

[2] In June 2003, the building was purchased by Phoenix Communities, who refurbished the eight-story section into a senior citizen's living center, known as the Whittier Manor.

The complex actually consists of two separate structures: an eight-story building to the north, and a larger fifteen-story Italian Renaissance style tower to the south.

It is basically Italian Renaissance in style, and is built from buff brick with terra cotta trim in the upper floors.