Detroit's wealth of architectural talent!

[mccarch]

I have to call foul on this last photo of United Savings Bank by Albert Kahn. The photo shows a facade definitely not by Kahn [[unless it's a remodeling by his firm AK Associates, long after the master had passed).

I own a scrapbook with a wonderful copy of a pen and ink rendering of this building's original facade - by Albert Kahn; the renderer is Lancelot Sukert. Unfortunately the scrapbook is too unwieldy to be scanned.

[p69rrh51]

I have to call foul on this last photo of United Savings Bank by Albert Kahn. The photo shows a facade definitely not by Kahn [[unless it's a remodeling by his firm AK Associates, long after the master had passed).

I own a scrapbook with a wonderful copy of a pen and ink rendering of this building's original facade - by Albert Kahn; the renderer is Lancelot Sukert. Unfortunately the scrapbook is too unwieldy to be scanned.

A reality check is always a good thing. The following pages will answer your question. The pages were copied from the final report prepared for the Historic Designation Advisory Board.

[southofbloor]

Fantastic! There are a few buildings downtown that I suspect are 40's 50's facade overhauls of ornate buildings. In some cases it has to do with changing design tastes and in other cases I wonder whether the facade's ornateness wasn't performing well.

I'm reading a lot these days about ca 1910 buildings with Vacuum cleaning systems - am working at trying to figure out what exactly that entailed at the time.

[p69rrh51]

Fantastic! There are a few buildings downtown that I suspect are 40's 50's facade overhauls of ornate buildings. In some cases it has to do with changing design tastes and in other cases I wonder whether the facade's ornateness wasn't performing well.

I'm reading a lot these days about ca 1910 buildings with Vacuum cleaning systems - am working at trying to figure out what exactly that entailed at the time.

My father used to tell a story about his visits to GM styling. He would always marvel at the beautiful automobiles on the drawing boards. One time he asked one the stylists why most of the designs never made it into production. The answer was we can't help the bad taste of the american public. I think that goes for many of the buildings remuddled in the area. Your Ford Service building at Woodward and East Grand Boulevard is another that comes to mind.