The 77-story Marriot Hotel at the GM Renaissance Center may the tallest building in the state, but the cylindrical smoked-glass tower is a little short on character.

The same can't be said of the Penobscot Building, located about a quarter-mile to the west in the heart of Downtown Detroit. Completed in 1928, the stately 45-story office building was the tallest building in Michigan for half a century, and thanks to some major renovations in the last few years and ongoing maintenance work performed by the building trades, most of the structure probably looks as good today as it did when it first opened.

"This is an interesting building, and it's built like a rock," said Brian Moran of Elevator Constructors Local 36, who has serviced the skyscraper's 30 operational elevators since 1985. "Until they renovated the place a few years ago, this place really had a seventies looks to it, but now that they've redone it, it looks like it did at the turn of the century."

The 45-story tower was completed in 1928, but the Penobscot has a history that goes a little farther back. A 13-story office building was constructed in 1905 on Fort Street, and then a 24-story addition was built on Congress Street in 1913.

The Detroit Area Art Deco Society's Board of Directors recognized the building last year as "Detroit's image-defining skyscraper. Comparable to those of New York and Chicago, it really brought the city into the 20th century world of skyscrapers."

A 1928 promotional brochure stated: "A graceful tower of steel and brick and stone...its lofty facades stand as a worthy monument of man's progress upward from his primitive state. This towering structure typifies the confidence in a great destiny that is present-day Detroit. Every factor of fine materials, and the highest constructive ability that unstinted expenditure of capital may command, has gone into the building in an effort to make it the perfect expression of an ideal." Ornamenting the building are American Indian figures and motifs, which are also in the entrance archway and metalwork.

The Detroit Area Art Deco Society Award was given to the building last year as a project that has "completed a significant restoration to a 20th century building in the art deco, moderne or streamline style." The Penobscot Building was chosen because of the renovation work performed by the building's owners, Capstone Advisors.

The Art Deco society had high praise for the $1 million exterior work done by Ohio Building Restoration, whose workers from Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 power-washed the exterior limestone with a solution of baking soda and water. Fifty years of residue from diesel bus fumes and other contaminants were lifted off, in an effort that was "phenomenally successful and made a dramatic difference to all of the building exteriors," the society said.

The building looks as good as ever, and good maintenance has kept the mechanical systems in good working order, too. Most of the elevators cabs and the mechanical systems were extensively overhauled in the 1970s, although five of the original cars are still in service. Simplicity of design in the lift system, Moran said, made the difference. He said the old systems weren't encumbered with sensitive electronics and extensive safety features of modern systems - "it's like an old car, the less stuff you put on the engine, the less trouble you have," he said.

Full-time painters and electricians also perform regular maintenance on the building. John Kasperek of Painters Local 675, who has worked in the skyscraper for 19 years, said, "this is just a grand old structure. You're working on good quality materials, not just drywall and metal studs. There are a lot of good materials in this building, and when you finish a job you take pride in what you've done."

Much of the electrical work in the skyscraper is original, said Marty Williams of IBEW Local 58, but much of it is being gradually being modernized as tenants move in and out and have different needs for their office space.

"There's certainly a combination of old and new in the building, but we've pretty much go on the theory that if it's not broke, don't fix it," Williams said.

The construction of Detroit's skyscrapers began after World War I, and came to a grinding halt as the Great Depression hit home. Hudson's department store, the tallest in the world, was completed in 1924, the same year as the 29-story Book-Cadillac Hotel, the city's most exclusive and then the world's tallest hotel. The Buhl Building was completed in 1925; the Penobscot followed in 1928, and the Guardian Building opened for business, along with the David Stott Building, in 1929.

The Penobscot Building.