World Trade Center Architect had Office in Royal Oak in '50s

Former Troy resident Minoru Yamasaki is best known as the architect of the World Trade Center in New York City. Born in Seattle and later relocated to the Detroit area, Yamasaki started his own architecture firm in ‘50s in Royal Oak above the old Hilzinger Hardware store (now ).

In Royal Oak, Yamasaki designed the Land’s Pharmacy on 11 Mile and Sherman Drive in 1955. The 750-square-foot, two-story triangular building was the first drive-up prescription center in the area. The building is now the home of Know Advertising.

Other buildings Yamasaki in Metro Detroit include four buildings on the campus of Wayne State University, the Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. building and the Birmingham Unitarian Church in Bloomfield Hills. Yamasaki's firm also designed the two towers of the Columbia Center on Big Beaver Road in Troy.