Explained: Why This Iconic Detroit Skyscraper Has Scattered, Random Windows

Urban living is a thrilling prospect for many. Having a home or office high above a metropolitan area with soaring views of the world around you is the pinnacle of skyscraper life. So you might be curious then to consider this building at Cadillac Square in downtown Detroit with windows on all but one side and oddly scattered windows on the mostly window-less side.

The building shows all-around windows for the top five floors, then a row of windows for roughly 8 floors below that. Then on about the 13th floor from the top, there's a window in a column with no other windows.

The building, Cadillac Tower, has intrigued many who live and work in Detroit like this thread on Reddit. 

Does ANYONE know what that one random alone window is to. I have lived in metro Detroit for over 30 years and every time I’ve been in the city I have noticed it and wondered since I was a kid.

Also would accept answers if you can know why there is hardly any windows on this side of the building

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Certainly there are others who have noticed the oddity.

I also wonder why there’s only one line of windows. The complete asymmetry of the window arrangement is odd. Why is there only two windows on the right side?

A partial answer is that there was an adjacent, now demolished building along the windowless side of the Cadillac Tower. That building, known as the Cadillac Square Building, only went partially as high as the Tower explaining why there are some windows on the uppermost floors.

The further answer is a little boring and utilitarian:

That's where the elevators and other windowless things are.

If you look closely at many older buidings, you'll see that they have this "blank wall" configuration for the elevator shafts, etc.

It looks pretty strange now though to have the Cadillac Tower's blank wall on that particular side. But you have to remember that when the building was built, the view from that side of the building was effectively blocked

So while it looks odd today, the Windowless Wall of Cadillac Tower made sense when the building was constructed.

Today the skyscraper remains among the tallest buildings in Detroit housing mainly commercial office space and broadcast antenna for some area radio stations. Historically, it's significant for being the first building outside of New York City or Chicago to be at least 40 stories tall.