Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Riverfront

The Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Riverfront, is a 367-room, 25-story high-rise hotel opened in 1965 adjacent to Cobo Center in downtown Detroit, Michigan.HistoryThe Plaza Land Company was established in 1955 to construct a modern hotel on a site adjacent to the planned Convention Hall and Exhibits Building. In 1956, the company announced a partnership with Conrad Hilton to construct a $24 million hotel, to be named the Pontchartrain Hilton. However the Hilton Hotels Board vetoed the deal in 1960, after which the Plaza Land Company turned to Samuel and Aaron Gershenson's Downtown Investment Company, which assumed control of the project.King & Lewis designed the Hotel Pontchartrain in the modern architectural style, with contemporary French interiors, and employing angular bay windows which provides every room with views of the International Riverfront and the city. The Pontchartrain was originally intended to have a twin tower, on the other side of the plot, but it was never built. The Hotel Pontchartrain was dedicated on July 24, 1965, the 264th anniversary of the founding of Detroit. It was built on the site of Fort Pontchartrain, Detroit's first permanent European settlement, built in 1701, which later became known as Fort Detroit. The hotel is named for the fort and for an earlier Hotel Pontchartrain, which was located on Cadillac Square at Woodward Avenue, before it was demolished in 1920.