Michael G. Smith - Designing Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture

Great Lakes Books

A complete listing of the books in this series can be found online at wsupress.wayne.edu

Editor

Thomas Klug

Marygrove College

Advisory Editors

Fredric C. Bohm

DeWitt, Michigan

Sandra Sageser Clark

Michigan Historical Center

Thomas R. Dilley

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Brian Leigh Dunnigan

Clements Library

De Witt Dykes

Oakland University

Joe Grimm

Michigan State University

Laurie Harris

Pleasant Ridge, Michigan

Charles K. Hyde

Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Susan Higman Larsen

Detroit Institute of Arts

Philip P. Mason

Prescott, Arizona and Eagle Harbor, Michigan

Dennis Moore

Consulate General of Canada

Erik C. Nordberg

Walter P. Reuther Library

Deborah Smith Pollard

University of MichiganDearborn

Michael O. Smith

Bentley Historical Library

Arthur M. Woodford

Harsens Island, Michigan

With gratitude to

for the generous support of the publication of this volume

2017 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission. Manufactured in the United States of America.

ISBN 978-0-8143-3979-4 (jacketed cloth); ISBN 978-0-8143-3980-0 (ebook)

Library of Congress Cataloging Number: 2017933001

Designed and typeset by Rachel Ross

Composed in Adobe Garamond Pro

Wayne State University Press

Leonard N. Simons Building

4809 Woodward Avenue

Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309

Visit us online at wsupress.wayne.edu

All photographs by Michael G. Smith unless otherwise indicated.

CONTENTS

ARCHITECTURAL TERMS ILLUSTRATED

18781946

PREFACE

They dont build em like they used to was a comment I often heard when photographing Detroits Guardian or Penobscot Buildings. Implicit in the comment is the view that buildings dating from the 1920s command a certain admiration, and even fascination, in part, owing to the luxurious materials that compose the structures. But something less tangible is at work as well. These buildings were made to be seen, and clearly, a great deal of effort was expended on crafting their outward appearancea circumstance of which even the most casual observer is aware.

Over the years, a number of the citys buildingsnot just these two skyscrapersbecame favorites of mine. The Bankers Trust Company Building on the corner of Congress and Shelby Streets; a modern, limestone-faced building on East Jefferson Avenue with bold, stepped arches; an ivy-covered, red brick building further down Jefferson that housed the Ross Roy advertising agency; and looming over the Lodge Freeway, a former Michigan Bell warehouse topped with a commanding tower of brick and terra-cotta were all on my list. Outside of downtown Detroit, the plain but welcoming Hatcher library at the University of Michigan, with its enormous reading room, and the dramaticand unexpectedKirk in the Hills church in Bloomfield Hills, were both on my list. I couldnt pass by these structures without admiring their unique designs, well-composed facades, and carefully detailed exteriors.

In 2011, I was asked to conduct a tour of downtown Detroit for a small convention, requiring that I bone up on the citys history and architecture. Shortly after beginning my research, I discovered that all my favorite buildings were designed by one architect: Wirt Rowland. It surprised me that a modern master could leave behind such a visible legacy of achievement and not be well known.

Driven by a desire to learn about Rowland and discover more of his buildings, I delved further into his life and work. What fascinated me most was Rowlands resolute commitment to the view that success in any creative field, be it art, music, poetry, writing, or architecture, is achieved only through deep study, and mastery through repeated use, of the lawful principles underlying the activity.

March Phillippsan author recommended by Rowland for his insight into the wellsprings of creative thoughtonce wrote: Results of two very different kinds may be obtained from the study of art. Either we may obtain an insight into the laws and principles of art itself, or we may obtain an insight into the lives and characters of those by whom the art was evolved (The Works of Man). This book, Designing Detroit, strives to illuminate both, examining the architecture community in one of the countrys fastest-growing cities during the first half of the twentieth century, and presenting an overview of the methods by which one architect achieved consistent success in designing buildings of great beauty.

Buildings dating from the early decades of the last century are tightly intertwined with the history of the period; one can hardly become enlightened about one without the other. This book considers buildings within their historical context, as integral outgrowths of the economic, social, and technological circumstances existing at the time.

Rowland was systematic in his approach to design, as exemplified by his use of geometric methods for composing facades; even a cursory understanding of these methods affords one a more profound appreciation of his buildings. The approach taken herein is to explain these fascinating methods in such a way as they may be grasped by the nontechnical reader. In fact, the approach taken throughout this book is to assume no technical familiarity with architecture or architectural terms on the part of the reader.