AMERICAN CITY: DETROIT ARCHITECTURE 1845-2005
Text by Robert Sharoff and Photographs by William Zbaren
Price: $60.00 cloth cover
Size is 9" X 13.35" - 144 pages - 90 illustrations
Though not a new book, (it was published in 2005 by Wayne State University Press) this large-format book full-color photographs illustrates the best buildings in our beloved city. It is certainly a "must have" coffee table book for every Detroit area enthusiast. The book was not a labor of love by a native Michigander. Quite the contrary. Two Chicagoans on a photo and editorial quest for the New York Times were in our city in 2003 to cover the then planned renovation of the Book-Cadillac Hotel. After their assignment and with time to kill, architectural writer Robert Sharoff and photographer William Zbaren strolled through the downtown streets, looking up in amazement at the architectural wonders that seem to elude the ordinary passersby. Even when asking questions about the structures the pair were documenting, Detroiters were prone to tell them that they never heard of the building in question or knew anything about the architect who built it.
Inspired by what they saw and photographed, the pair returned to Chicago to show their "finds" to their sophisticated
associates and friends. Some of them didn’t believe that such structures existed in Detroit.
American City: Detroit Architecture 1845-2005 is the first new large-format book on the city’s architecture in more than thirty years. Since many of Detroit’s structures are either endangered or marginally in use makes this book more compelling to own and share. In 2005, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed "the historic buildings of downtown Detroit" on the list of the country’s most endangered landmarks. The more than ninety beautifully rendered full-color photographs are a testament to architectural wonders that still exist in Detroit. The accompanying text identifies each building and provides basic information about the building. An introductory essay offers an overview of the city’s architectural history and outlines the social forces and architects that helped shape the city’s structural environment. The architects who designed and built Detroit’s finest buildings reads like a who’s-who list. Among them are Stanford White, Mies van der Rohe, Cass Gilbert, Albert Kahn, Wirt Rowland and Frank Lloyd Wright.
This review hopefully will encourage readers of the MODERN to buy this book and go on their own quest to see for themselves much of what the Detroit Area Art Deco Society is trying to herald in its educational and preservation efforts. With book in hand, see what two Chicagoans found when they took a walk in our city and looked up!
