The History

A bank tower for
a city of motors.

Before it was 28N, it was the Pontiac State Bank: the tallest building in Oakland County, and the clearest statement of what Pontiac had become.

Chapter I — The Bank

Built on the fortunes of the automobile age.

Pontiac grew rich making carriages, then cars. The Pontiac State Bank answered with a skyscraper — a tower that rose above Saginaw Street at the close of the 1920s. [TO CONFIRM: completion year: 1929 per archival sources, 1925 per the old site]

[Story beat: the bank’s founding and the decision to build; the architect and builder; opening day.][TO CONFIRM: owner to supply history notes or sources]

[Story beat: the original banking hall, the vault, and the materials that defined it: marble, brass, arched windows.] [TO CONFIRM]

Chapter II — The Skyline

Tallest in Oakland County.

For nearly fifty years, no building in Oakland County stood taller. It held the title until the office towers of Southfield and Troy arrived in the 1970s.

[Story beat: notable tenants and the tower’s place in downtown life.] [TO CONFIRM]

Chapter III — The Towne Center

A second life, and a long wait.

The bank tower was later known as the Oakland Towne Center. [TO CONFIRM: year of the name change]

[Story beat: the building’s middle decades and the years before its restoration.] [TO CONFIRM]

In 2021, Blackacre acquired the tower and began the restoration that returned it to downtown Pontiac as 28N.Read the restoration story →

Timeline

  1. 1929The Pontiac State Bank tower opens on Saginaw Street. [TO CONFIRM: completion year; archival sources say 1929, the old site said 1925]
  2. 1970sRemains the tallest building in Oakland County for nearly fifty years.
  3. [Year]Becomes the Oakland Towne Center. [TO CONFIRM: year the building became the Oakland Towne Center]
  4. 2021Blackacre acquires the tower and begins the restoration.
  5. TodayResidents return to 28N. The next hundred years begin.

From the Archive

The tower in photographs.

Archival photographs to be supplied by the owner. Captions are drafts. [TO CONFIRM]

Saginaw Street with the bank tower, 1930s. [Source / date TO CONFIRM]
The original banking hall. [Date TO CONFIRM]
The vault door, still in place today. [TO CONFIRM]
The tower rising above downtown Pontiac. [Date TO CONFIRM]
The lobby and elevator bank. [Date TO CONFIRM]
The building in its Oakland Towne Center years. [Date TO CONFIRM]