The Deneau Tower is a major fixture in Dayton’s skyline and also holds a special significance in the story of downtown’s progress during the suburban exodus of the mid-20th century.
It was built in 1969, and because of its era the building has not been admired in quite the same way as the more ornate earlier office buildings constructed in classical and Art Deco styles.
But it is still interesting architecturally for a few reasons in addition to its role in Dayton history, and recently the tower has been given new life thanks to a major redevelopment project by Windsor Companies that features a mix of residential and office spaces.
The building, previously known as the Grant-Deneau Tower, was even added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, before the larger downtown district was nominated.
Designed by the architectural firm Deneau, Kleski and Associates, the 22-story building was the first modern high rise built in downtown Dayton and was the city’s tallest building at the time of its completion.
It was an investment that showed resilience at a time when the region was rapidly developing outward. Large-scale migration to suburbs had accelerated throughout the 1960s (which I’ve covered in my downtown retail history).
As explained in the book Hidden History of Dayton Ohio by Tony Kroeger, the tower “was seen as downtown Dayton’s counterpoint to the modern alternatives emerging in the suburbs” and a “pioneering effort to revitalize downtown Dayton and compete regionally.”
By that time in the 1960s, major urban renewal projects were being planned and executed in Dayton, but the downtown skyline had still not changed much yet.
“There had not been a commercial high-rise constructed since 1938 and no modernist high-rise in the city’s history” Kroeger writes.
He explains that “the building was to have a clean, modern look while exhibiting a ‘dash of romanticism,’ leading to what is now considered a Miesian/New Formalist design.”
As detailed in the building’s National Register form, the north and south sides showcase the New Formalism style with a glass curtain wall within a steel frame, “divided by delicate vertical divisions that accentuate the building’s height.” The east and west facades, on the other hand, consist of an “infill of brickwork laid in common bond, with patterns of headers every twenty-fifth row.” All of the sides end at a projecting cornice with shallow concrete arches.
Many have said that the building of the tower “hastened the construction of the high-rises that followed” including the 1970 Winters Bank (now Stratacache) Tower, and the 1977 Mead (later Keybank) Tower, which took attention away from the Deneau because the newer buildings were taller.
The Deneau is also significant for one particular element: its glass.
Originally, a major flaw in the design was the fact that “the monolithic glazed building’s heating and cooling costs were so high that no one could afford to work there.”
This was even stated as a reason that former anchor tenant Premier Health left the building (WYSO). The tower was 95% occupied until 2012 when Premier purchased the tower at 110 N Main and moved its 700 employees there, leaving the Deneau practically vacant.
Because of this, Windsor is utilizing vacuum insulating glass (VIG) made by Vacuum Glass LLC for the current redevelopment in what is “the largest VIG retrofit in North America.”
VIG technology is “10 times more effective at preventing heat loss than single pane window glass” and works by “preventing two forms of heat transfer and reflecting infrared heat from the sun.”
The building includes around 2,400 VIG panels, totaling 60,000 square feet in “about 18 different sizes, including arched windows on the 22nd floor.”
Paul Deneau and the Early Years of the Deneau Tower
While the tower was still being completed in June 1969, Dayton mayor Dave Hall used it as a setting to help promote Dayton’s 1% income tax. He rode to the top to film a 15-minute color movie advocating the tax’s renewal.
Soon after that, the building’s tenants would start to move in.
The very first was the Sanford Rose Associates employment agency which took up the 13th floor at the beginning of December 1969.
They were joined a couple weeks later by two major insurance companies: Travelers and New York Life. And just a few days after that, another major tenant was announced in the Avco Delta Mortgage Company.
After the tower opened, building architect Paul Deneau ran his “architectural operating room” on the 21st floor where he could look out on the whole downtown. Deneau believed that “anything starts with the heart, and downtown is the heart (of Dayton)”. He was described in one interview as a “city surgeon” working to help the core of Dayton regain its health.
Deneau was also known to “wax philosophical over drinks” in the Bull Market bar which was located on the ground floor of his building.
One account described Deneau as “no-nonsense, gruff, crude at times. His jokes are earthy, and when he laughs, you’re never sure he’s laughing with you or at you.”
But Kroeger described him as a “fantastic architect who could have done work anywhere” but chose to remain committed to Dayton. Deneau once said that “I’m not ashamed to say I love this city. I dearly love it.”
In addition to the original name of Grant-Deneau, another previous name of the building was the Miami Tower.
Years later in the 1990s, the mortgage for the building was held by the Union Central Life Insurance Company, which took control when the owner defaulted.
Union Central embarked on a $3 million renovation in 1997 and renamed the tower the 40 West Centre Building. Premier Health would move in 3 years later in 2000 (Dunham).
From Mid-Century Offices to Downtown Luxury Apartments
The current redevelopment project cost over $50 million and contains 147 luxury apartments on floors 7 to 22, with the top floor consisting of 6 penthouse units.
Tenants began moving in earlier this week, and 3 of the 6 penthouses are already leased.
The lower floors consist of coworking office spaces and there will also be a restaurant on the ground floor.
Jason Dorsey of Windsor Companies “painstakingly redesigned virtually every detail of the building to make it into something very special.”
Dorsey’s approach reflects elements of the original vision of a modern look with a “dash of romanticism.” He called his design “minimalist with a little bit of crazy mixed into it,” and added that the building will have artwork on every floor.
Paul Deneau once said that “Dayton, while possibly still a little behind is, more so than ever, a city of opportunity.”
And now, over half a century later, a new generation of downtown visionaries are seeing that same opportunity and bringing new life to vacant landmarks.
Sources
Dunham, Dayton in the 20th Century
Kroeger, Hidden History of Dayton Ohio
“Hall Hits New High in Tax Bid,” DDN, 7/26/69
“First Grant-Deneau Building Tenant Moves In,” DDN, 12/4/69
“ABS to Service Grant-Deneau Bldg,” DDN, 12/18/69
“Deneau and Dayton,” DDN, 1/20/72
“Paul Deneau: An Incongruity,” The Journal Herald, 1/26/72
https://www.usglassmag.com/vig-gives-new-life-to-mid-century-tower/
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