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Detroit Foundation Hotel: How McIntosh Poris Recast a 1929 Fire Headquarters

Detroit Foundation Hotel occupies Detroit’s former 1929 Fire Department Headquarters and an adjacent former wine-cellar building. Here is who designed each phase, what the conversion added and what guests will find inside.

By ThatPainter Team 18 October 2026
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Detroit Foundation Hotel occupies the former Detroit Fire Department Headquarters at 250 W. Larned Street, together with an adjoining building once known as Pontchartrain Wine Cellars. The five-story, steel-frame Neoclassical headquarters opened in 1929, after a design by Hans Gehrke, and was adapted into a 100-room hotel in a project listed by McIntosh Poris Architects (also called McIntosh Poris Associates) as running from 2013 through 2017.

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That distinction matters: Gehrke designed the original civic building; McIntosh Poris designed the later reuse. The result combines preserved historic fabric with guest rooms, restaurants, meeting areas, offices, a fitness center and a new roof-level banquet addition.

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What is the Detroit Foundation Hotel building now?

It is a boutique hotel formed from two historically registered downtown Detroit buildings. The principal structure is the former Detroit Fire Department Headquarters. The second is the neighboring property formerly identified as Pontchartrain Wine Cellars. McIntosh Poris Architects worked with Arco Development and Aparium Hotel Group to bring both structures into one hospitality project.

The hotel describes the headquarters as restored for hotel use in 2017. McIntosh Poris gives the broader adaptive-reuse project a 2013–2017 timeline. Its program includes 100 guest rooms, office and conference spaces, a fitness center, a ground-floor restaurant and lounge, and banquet space in a new roof addition.

The address, 250 W. Larned Street, places the property in the downtown core. Its identity is therefore not a new hotel designed to resemble an old building; it is a working civic landmark given a new public use.

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The original Detroit fire headquarters

A 1929 Neoclassical headquarters

Historic building records describe the former headquarters as a five-story, steel-frame Neoclassical building designed by Hans Gehrke and opened in 1929. The fire department’s presence on the site reached much further back: fire facilities occupied the location continuously from about 1840 until the department moved out in 2013.

The long period of public use helps explain the building’s robust scale and formal architecture. A headquarters needed to accommodate administration and operations, not simply vehicle bays. Its steel frame and masonry envelope provided a durable structure that could be reorganized for contemporary rooms and public spaces without erasing the building’s civic character.

Why the architect attribution is easy to confuse

McIntosh Poris is associated with the hotel conversion, not with the 1929 headquarters design. Hans Gehrke should be credited for the original building. McIntosh Poris’s own project listing concerns the later intervention undertaken between 2013 and 2017.

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Work Architect or team Date What the evidence establishes
Original Detroit Fire Department Headquarters Hans Gehrke Opened 1929 Five-story, steel-frame Neoclassical headquarters
Adaptive reuse as Detroit Foundation Hotel McIntosh Poris Architects, with Arco Development and Aparium Hotel Group 2013–2017 Conversion of the headquarters and adjacent former Pontchartrain Wine Cellars building into a hotel and hospitality program

How the adaptive reuse changed the complex

Two buildings, one hotel program

The conversion had to make two separate historic buildings function as a coherent hotel. McIntosh Poris’s program places guest rooms in the combined complex while also inserting spaces that a 1920s fire headquarters would not have contained: conference facilities, offices, a fitness center and food-and-beverage venues.

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The project also adds banquet capacity at the roof. That new roof addition is a contemporary intervention rather than part of the 1929 structure. Keeping the event use above the historic floors allows the hotel to gain usable area while retaining the character of the existing buildings below.

Public rooms at ground level

The ground floor contains a restaurant and lounge, giving the former headquarters a public role beyond overnight accommodation. The hotel’s restaurant, the Apparatus Room, describes service for breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch and dinner. Because restaurant schedules can change, visitors should confirm the current hours directly before making plans.

A conversion, not a performance claim

The published project material establishes the building history, scope and room count. It does not provide an independent study measuring preservation results, energy performance, construction savings or commercial performance. The 100-room inventory is a description of the hotel’s capacity, not a statistic proving how well the conversion performed.

Room count and accommodation types

The hotel’s 2025 factsheet divides the 100 rooms into 73 king rooms, 20 double rooms and seven curated suites. The categories total 100. Official room listings use more specific names within those groups, including King, Foundation King, two-queen rooms, Deluxe King, Junior Suite, Secretary Suite and Commissioner’s Suite.

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Category in the 2025 factsheet Number of rooms Examples of official room labels
King rooms 73 King, Foundation King, Deluxe King
Double rooms 20 Two-queen rooms
Curated suites 7 Junior Suite, Secretary Suite, Commissioner’s Suite
Total 100 All guest rooms

Most guest rooms are described as having reclaimed-wood headboards and murals depicting local architecture. Those details connect the private rooms to Detroit’s material and built history without pretending that every room is identical. Exact room layouts, sizes, accessible features, rates and availability depend on the selected category and booking date.

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Design details guests can experience

Reclaimed wood and architectural imagery

Reclaimed-wood headboards are among the clearest material references in the guest rooms. They bring a visibly reused surface into a project whose larger purpose is also reuse. Murals based on local architecture extend that idea graphically, turning the city’s buildings into part of the room experience.

Art throughout the property

The hotel’s experience information says art is displayed throughout the property. The emphasis is broader than a single lobby installation: art, architecture and industrial design are presented as related parts of the hotel atmosphere.

The hotel’s experience page describes this approach as bringing Detroit’s architecture, art, design and manufacturing communities together in an atmosphere that embraces a “Detroit State of Mind.” That wording is institutional hotel copy, so it is best read as the property’s own description of its design intent rather than as an independent assessment.

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What is inside the former fire headquarters?

  • 100 guest rooms: 73 kings, 20 doubles and seven suites according to the 2025 factsheet.
  • Food and beverage: a ground-floor restaurant and lounge, including the Apparatus Room.
  • Meeting and event facilities: conference space in the converted buildings and banquet space in a new roof addition.
  • Office areas: work space incorporated into the overall program.
  • Fitness center: the hotel lists Peloton bikes and yoga mats.
  • Guest services: in-room dining and concierge assistance are listed among the available experiences.

This mix is what makes the project an adaptive-reuse case rather than a room-only conversion. The former headquarters now supports sleeping, dining, exercise, meetings and events in the same historic envelope.

Planning a stay: details to verify

Parking

The hotel FAQ page reviewed for this profile listed 24-hour valet parking at $45 overnight and $20 daily. Those are time-sensitive operational prices, not permanent specifications of the building. Check the current hotel FAQ before arrival because rates, policies and availability may change.

Dining hours and reservations

The Apparatus Room lists breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch and dinner. Service times, menus, reservation requirements and holiday schedules are changeable. Confirm the current information before relying on a meal there, especially when coordinating an event or a late arrival.

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Room selection

Choose among the hotel’s current room labels rather than assuming that every king or double room has the same plan. Ask the property about accessibility, bed configuration, bathroom layout, occupancy limits and any feature important to your stay. The published room totals do not establish room dimensions or accessibility details.

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Events and meetings

The complex includes conference areas and banquet space. Event organizers should request the current capacity chart, floor plans, audiovisual specifications, catering rules and access schedule. The existence of a roof addition establishes an event venue, but it does not by itself specify a particular seated capacity or package.

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Why this project matters in Detroit’s architectural story

The hotel demonstrates how a large civic building can remain useful after its original institution leaves. Fire department operations occupied the site for roughly 173 years, from about 1840 until 2013. Instead of treating the headquarters as a static monument, the conversion gives it a daily program that invites hotel guests, restaurant customers, meeting attendees and local visitors inside.

The strategy also preserves the difference between old and new. The 1929 headquarters retains its historic identity and authorship, while the roof-level banquet addition and contemporary hospitality functions reveal the later intervention. That legibility is important in adaptive reuse: the building’s past remains understandable, but the new use is not hidden.

For architecture-focused visitors, the property offers several layers to read at once: Gehrke’s Neoclassical civic design, the physical evidence of a former fire headquarters, McIntosh Poris’s conversion work, reused materials in guest rooms, local-architecture murals and a new event volume above the historic structure.

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Questions the published record can answer

Who designed the Detroit Foundation Hotel?

Hans Gehrke designed the original Detroit Fire Department Headquarters, opened in 1929. McIntosh Poris Architects designed the later adaptive-reuse project, listed as 2013–2017.

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What was the building before it became a hotel?

The main building was the Detroit Fire Department Headquarters. The hotel also incorporates the adjacent building formerly known as Pontchartrain Wine Cellars.

When did it become a hotel?

The hotel says the headquarters was restored as Detroit Foundation Hotel in 2017. McIntosh Poris lists the adaptive-reuse project period as 2013–2017.

How many rooms does it have?

The property has 100 rooms: 73 king rooms, 20 double rooms and seven curated suites in the 2025 factsheet.

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Does the hotel have a restaurant and fitness center?

Yes. The program includes a ground-floor restaurant and lounge, and the hotel lists a fitness center with Peloton bikes and yoga mats. The Apparatus Room lists breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch and dinner.

The takeaway

Detroit Foundation Hotel is best understood as a layered civic reuse: Hans Gehrke’s 1929 fire headquarters remains the historic foundation, while McIntosh Poris’s 2013–2017 intervention adds a complete contemporary hotel program. Its 100 rooms, restaurant, event spaces, art, reclaimed materials and fitness facilities make the former headquarters active again without confusing the original architect with the architect of the conversion.

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