Power outage strands elevator passengers in historic Guardian Building

The historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit was without power for more than an hour Tuesday afternoon, briefly stranding several elevator passengers.

The 40-story Art Deco-style skyscraper at 500 Griswold St., which is owned by Wayne County and houses many county employees, lost power at about 1 p.m. Detroit firefighters responded to help rescue several passengers from an elevator, a firefighter at the scene said.

Dozens of building workers headed down flights of stairs to wait in the ground-floor lobby for power to be restored, including one woman who said she walked down 32 flights.

Power eventually was restored later in the afternoon.

Asked the cause of the outage, a county spokesperson referred all comment to DTE Energy. A DTE spokesperson, Dave Akerly, told the Free Press that the outage wasn't on DTE's end, but rather from equipment in the building.

More: Gilbert finally completes new Wayne Co. jail, courthouse

More: Duggan unveils Detroit NFL draft plans: Road closures, mobile app, stage construction

The Guardian Building is considered an Art Deco masterpiece and was completed in 1929. Wayne County bought the building from Detroit-based Sterling Group for $14.5 million in 2008 and has since poured tens of millions into renovations.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Guardian Building power outage strands elevator passengers