The Whitney

The Whitney is a fine-dining restaurant occupying a Romanesque Revival mansion on Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit. The 21,000-square-foot mansion was built between 1890 and 1894 for David Whitney Jr., a lumber baron and one of the wealthiest men in the country at the time; the architecture is a mix of pink jasper exterior, ornate hand-carved interior wood, Tiffany stained glass, and a private grand staircase. The mansion functioned as a private residence until 1986, when it was converted to a restaurant; the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The restaurant programs across multiple rooms — formal dining in the main rooms, a more casual basement Ghost Bar (named after the building's resident-spirit lore), and the Garden Room overlooking the back lawn. Menus run American fine dining with strong steakhouse and seafood emphasis. The Whitney is the canonical Detroit special-occasion restaurant — anniversaries, engagements, milestone birthdays, and prom dinners cluster on the reservation list. Mother's Day brunch and the Christmas dinner service typically sell out weeks in advance.

Practical notes: reservations are required for dinner and strongly recommended for brunch; book through the restaurant's website or via OpenTable. Parking is the lot directly behind the mansion on Canfield ($10 valet, free self-park on the gravel lot). The QLINE streetcar's Canfield stop is one block away. Dress code is business casual at minimum; jackets aren't required but most diners dress up. The Ghost Bar accepts walk-ins and is a lower-effort way to experience the building.