Description

With its sleek look and easy-to-use layout, this completely new guide to Detroit architecture provides a fresh, in-depth look at the city of Detroit itself as well as a number of distinctive environments outside the city proper. Its 369 entries and more than 400 photographs—many by renowned architectural photographer Balthazar Korab, who served as principal photographer for the project--show off Detroit's significant architectural history. Like its predecessor, Detroit Architecture: AIA Guide, also published by Wayne State University Press (1971 and 1980), AIA Detroit is an authoritative yet highly readable account of a wide range of structures and urban spaces. It features a host of buildings—two-thirds of which are listed on local, state, and/or national registers of historical buildings—and also recognizes a handful of bridges, monuments, fountains, parks, cemeteries, neighborhoods, and specialty districts that are architecturally and stylistically notable. Organized as a series of walking (or driving) tours beginning with the Downtown area, the guide moves north, west, and east to explore the city's many districts and neighborhoods, and then takes a look at the special environments of the Grosse Pointe Lakeshore, the Cranbrook educational community, the GM Technical Center, and Ford's Dearborn. Photographs of each site and numerous useful maps throughout help readers visualize the locales. AIA Detroit serves as a much-needed tool in uncovering and navigating the city's rich architectural heritage for citizens, tourists, and architecture students alike.

Published by Wayne State University Press

Author(s)

Eric J. Hill, a Detroit-based architect, is Director of Urban Design and Planning with Albert Kahn Associates and adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University Of Michigan.

John Gallagher is a staff writer for the Detroit Free Press. He has also written for Architectural Record, Inland Architect, and many other publications.

Other Books by John Gallagher: Great Architecture of Michigan,

Other Books by Balthazar Korab: Cranbrook Genius Loci, Art in the Stations: The Detroit People Mover, Great Architecture of Michigan,

Reviews

"A lively and endlessly browsable paperback from Wayne State University Press, 'AIA Detroit' features photos and capsule descriptions of 369 structures."

— The Detroit News

"Detroit possesses an architectural heritage that is under appreciated, even unknown, locally and nationally. The stock of pre-World War II high-rise buildings, for instance, is probably the fourth finest in the country, and is the downtown’s greatest asset as it redevelops. This comprehensive, carefully-crafted guide will increase appreciation of Detroit’s architecture from high to low, from cherished to forgotten, and from quotidian to exotic."

— Douglas Kelbaugh, University of Michigan, Dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan

"The authors present us with a fresh look at the architectural treasures of the greater Detroit area. From houses to factories, churches, commercial blocks and stadium, buildings are convincingly interpreted, often with a dash of humor. The book will reward anyone who is interested in the story of good design in Detroit."

— Kathryn Bishop Eckert, former State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan Historical Society