Albert Kahn (architect)

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For other people named Albert Kahn, see Albert Kahn (disambiguation).
For architect with similar name (but no relation), see Louis Kahn.
Albert Kahn
Albert Kahn (architect).jpg
Born(1869-03-21)March 21, 1869
Rhaunen, Kingdom of Prussia (Germany)
DiedDecember 8, 1942(1942-12-08) (aged 73)
Detroit, Michigan, US
NationalityAmerican
Occupationarchitect
RelativesJulius Kahn, brother
Albert E. Kahn, nephew

Albert Kahn (March 21, 1869 – December 8, 1942) was an American industrial architect. He was accredited the architect of Detroit and designed industrial plant complexes such as the Ford River Rouge automobile complex. He designed the construction of Detroit skyscrapers and office buildings as well as mansions in the city suburbs. He had an organization of hundreds of architect associates for his firm and in 1937 designed some 20% percent of all architect lay-out arranged factories in the nation.

In addition, under a unique contract in 1929, Kahn established a design and training office in Moscow, sending twenty-five staff there to train Soviet architects and engineers, and to design hundreds of industrial buildings under their first five-year plan. They trained more than 4,000 architects and engineers on Soviet industrial construction using Kahn's concepts. In 1943, the Franklin Institute posthumously awarded Kahn the Frank P. Brown Medal.

Biography[]

Kahn was born on March 21, 1869, to a Jewish family[1] in Rhaunen, in the Kingdom of Prussia. He received his early education in the school of Luxembourg.[2] Kahn immigrated as a child with his family to Detroit, Michigan, in 1881, when he was 12.[3] His father Joseph was trained as a rabbi; his mother Rosalie had a talent for the visual arts and music.[3] Kahn had four brothers, including Moritz, who became an engineer; and Julius Kahn, an engineer and inventor, who later collaborated with him in his architectural firm. They also had two sisters.[3]

Kahn quickly learned English and went to the Detroit public schools. In 1883 he got a job at the architectural business of Mason and Rice where he got his initial architectural training.[3] While working there he primarily designed residences and bank buildings. In 1891 at age 22, he won a Rotch Traveling Fellowship, to study in Europe, where he toured Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium with Henry Bacon, another young architecture student. Bacon later designed the Lincoln Memorial that is located in Washington, D.C.[3][4] After leaving Mason & Rice in 1895, Kahn joined in a partnership with Alexander B. Trowbridge and George W. Nettleton known as Nettleton, Kahn & Trowbridge.[5]

Kahn in 1902 formed a partnership with his brother Julius, a civil engineer. Later that year, Julius developed a novel and scientific method of reinforcing concrete with steel, making reinforced concrete construction practical and economical. After receiving a patent on the "Kahn System" of construction in 1903, Julius left Albert Kahn's firm and established the Trussed Concrete Steel Company, or Truscon, to market the product. Reinforced concrete allowed for much larger open spaces within factory interiors not obtainable with conventional wood construction and at a lower cost than steel frame construction. Concrete had other beneficial characteristics, such as far better protection from fire and greater load bearing capacity. By 1905, hundreds of buildings within the United States were being constructed using the Kahn System, including the first reinforced concrete automobile plant, completed for the Cadillac Motor Car Company at 450 Amsterdam Street in Detroit.[6] Albert and Julius Kahn collaborated on the design of many industrial projects throughout the US constructed with reinforced concrete, particularly automobile factories, with the result that Albert Kahn became widely known for his expertise in the construction of concrete industrial structures.[7]

Packard Automotive Plant building no. 10 in construction, c. 1905

Henry Ford became interested in Kahn's unique designs that showed many benefits. Ford had Kahn design Ford Motor Company's Highland Park Ford Plant in 1909 where developed production techniques in the assembly line manufactured the Ford Model T on a large scale. Kahn then later in 1917 designed the half-mile-long Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan. That factory complex was developed into the largest manufacturing cluster of plants in the United States and later the largest conglomerate production industry manufacturer in the world with a workforce of 120,000 employees.[8][9]

Kahn was also responsible for designing many of the buildings and houses built under direction of the Hiram Walker family in Walkerville, Ontario, including Willistead Manor. Kahn's interest in historically styled buildings is also seen in his houses in Detroit's Indian Village, the Cranbrook House, the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, and The Dearborn Inn, the world's first airport hotel. Kahn's firm designed the Art Deco Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center area, a 28-story designated landmark. The building was in 1929 awarded a silver medal by the Architectural League of New York in the category of the year's most beautiful commercial building. Kahn's firm also designed from 1917 to 1929 the corporate headquarters for all three of the major Detroit daily newspapers and the General Motors building, at the time of its completion in 1922, the second largest office building in the world. His work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[10]

On May 8, 1929, through an agreement signed with Kahn by Saul G. Bron, President of Amtorg, the Soviet government contracted Albert Kahn Associates to help design the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the first tractor plant in the USSR. On January 9, 1930, a second contract with Kahn was signed for his firm to become consulting architects for all industrial construction in the Soviet Union.[11] Under these contracts, during 1929–1932 and the Great Depression, Kahn's firm established a design and training bureau in Moscow to train and supervise Soviet architects and engineers. This bureau, under the government's Gosproektstroi, was headed by one of Albert Kahn's brothers, Moritz Kahn, and 25 other Kahn Associates staff, who worked in Moscow during this project. They trained more than 4,000 Soviet architects and engineers; and designed 521 plants and factories[3] under the nation's first five-year plan.[11][12][13]

Kahn also designed many of what are considered the classic buildings of the University of Michigan in city of Ann Arbor. These include the Burton Memorial Tower, the Hill Auditorium, the Hatcher Graduate Library, and William L. Clements Library. Kahn said later in life that of all the buildings he designed, he wanted most to be remembered for his work on William L. Clements Library. Kahn frequently collaborated with architectural sculptor Corrado Parducci. In all, Parducci worked on about 50 Kahn commissions, including banks, office buildings, newspaper buildings, mausoleums, hospitals, and private residences. Kahn's firm was able to adapt to the changing needs of World War I and designed numerous army airfield and naval bases for the United States government during the war. By World War II, Kahn's 600-person office was involved in making Detroit industry part of America's Arsenal of Democracy. Among others, the office designed the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, and the Willow Run Bomber Plant, Kahn's last building, located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The Ford Motor Company mass-produced Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers here.[14][15]

In 1937, Albert Kahn Associates was responsible for about 20% of all architect lay-out arranged blueprinted factories in the United States.[3] In 1941, Kahn received the eighth-highest salary and compensation package in the U.S., $486,936, of which he paid 72% in tax.[16] Kahn worked on more than 1,000 commissions from Henry Ford and hundreds for other automakers. Kahn designed showrooms for Ford Motor Company in several cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston.[3]

As of 2006, approximately 60 Kahn buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[17] Not all of Kahn's works have been preserved. Cass Technical High School in Detroit, designed by Malcomson and Higginbotham and built by Albert Kahn's firm in 1922, was demolished in 2011 after vandals had stripped it of most of its fixtures.[18] The Donovan Building, later occupied by Motown Records, was abandoned for decades and deteriorated. The city demolished it as part of its beautification plan before the 2006 Super Bowl XL.[19] In Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Kahn designed Checker Cab Manufacturing plant was shuttered post the bankruptcy of Checker Motors Corp, in 2009. It was leveled in 2015.[20]

Fifteen Albert Kahn buildings are recognized by official Michigan historical markers:[21]

Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in 1927

Kahn-designed buildings[]

Temple Beth-El (now Bonstelle Theatre), 1903
Palms Apartments, 1903
Belle Isle Conservatory, 1904
Albert Kahn's house, 1906
Ford Assembly Plant, 1914, Cleveland, Ohio (now Cleveland Institute of Art)
General Motors Building (now Cadillac Place), 1919
Fisher Building, 1927
S. S. Kresge World Headquarters, 1927

Kahn has been attributed the architect of Detroit and engineered almost 900 buildings in the city.[22] Below is a listing of some of those buildings. All are located in Detroit, unless otherwise indicated.

  • Cold Spring Granite Company Main Plant, 1929, Cold Spring, Minnesota (demolished 2008)
  • King Edward Public School, 1905, Walkerville Neighbourhood, Windsor, ON. (demolished 1993, original front stone facade saved)
  • General Motors Stamping Plant, 1930, Indianapolis, Indiana (demolished 2014)
  • Bedrock Woodward Building 1449 Woodward
  • Garden Court Apartments 2900 E. Jefferson

Buildings at University of Michigan[]

Below are campus structures built during Kahn's career.[29][30]

Hill Auditorium, with Burton Memorial Tower in the background
White-colored stone building with columns in the center of the facade c. 1924
University of Michigan Central Campus: Angell Hall, one of the major buildings of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Greek Organization Buildings:

Personal life[]

Kahn and his firm during World War II was in charge of several of the U.S. government's important construction projects that included aeronautical and tank arsenal plants. He married Ernestine Krolik in 1896 and they had four children. Kahn died in Detroit on December 8, 1942.[29]

Legacy[]

Many of Albert Kahn's personal working papers and construction photographs are housed at University of Michigan's Bentley History Library.[33] His personal working library, the Albert Kahn Library Collection, is housed at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan.[34] The Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian house most of the family's correspondence and other materials.[35]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "A Golden Age of Jewish Architects" by Abbott Gorin, Jewish Currents, Spring 2015
  2. ^ Blenz 1981, p. 133.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Johnson 1997, pp. 161-164.
  4. ^ Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production, Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1945, pp. 97-100.
  5. ^ "About Albert Kahn" Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  6. ^ Smith, Michael G., "The First Concrete Auto Factory: An Error in the Historical Record," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2019) 78 (4): 442–453.
  7. ^ Ferry 1970, p. 11.
  8. ^ Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production, pp. 107-8, Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1945.
  9. ^ Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 22, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
  10. ^ "Albert Kahn". Olympedia. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Melnikova-Raich, Sonia (2010). "The Soviet Problem with Two 'Unknowns': How an American Architect and a Soviet Negotiator Jump-Started the Industrialization of Russia, Part I: Albert Kahn". IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. 36 (2): 59–73. ISSN 0160-1040. JSTOR 41933723.
  12. ^ "Industry's Architect". Time. June 29, 1942. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-04. In 1928 the Soviet Government, after combing the U.S. for a man who could furnish the building brains for Russia's industrialization, offered the job to Kahn. Twenty-five Kahn engineers and architects went to Moscow. They had to start from scratch.
  13. ^ "Albert Kahn Associates records". Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  14. ^ Borth, Christy. Masters of Mass Production, pp. 109-10, 120-28, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, IN, 1945.
  15. ^ Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 51-2, 96-8, 148, 200, 227-9, 242, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
  16. ^ "Compensation and the I.R.S.: It's not the 'Good' Old Days". The New York Times. 2010-12-01. (Business Day section). Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  17. ^ Hickman, Matt (27 October 2020). "Albert Kahn Associates celebrates 125th anniversary with launch of interactive map of projects in Detroit and beyond". The Architect's Newspaper. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  18. ^ Cass Tech High School (old). Historic Detroit. Retrieved on November 20, 2014.
  19. ^ "Donovan Building". Historic Detroit Organization. 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  20. ^ "Checker's Albert Kahn Designed Plant". Checker Car Club of America. 30 May 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  21. ^ "Michigan Historical Markers". Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  22. ^ John L. Dorman (March 26, 2018). "In Energized Detroit, Savoring an Architectural Legacy". New York Times online. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  23. ^ Benjamin L. Gravel Jr. Frederick H. Holt House (250 East Boston Boulevard). Historic Detroit. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  24. ^ "Plans at old Shaw Walker site". MLive. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  25. ^ "Brad Flory column: Good-bye to a landmark once 'the essence of Jackson'". MLive.
  26. ^ "Chronicle Building now owned by Muskegon Community College". MLive. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  27. ^ "Detroit Times Building". Buildings of Detroit. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  28. ^ "New Heating Plant Under Constructio" (PDF). Notre Dame Scholastic Magazine: 14. 23 October 1931.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b Blenz 1981, p. 134.
  30. ^ "Ann Arbor Observer". Ann Arbor Observer Company. 2002. pp. 27–33. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  31. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2019-01-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  32. ^ "Alpha Epsilon Phi - ΑΕΦ | Greek Life". fsl.umich.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
  33. ^ "Bentley Historical Library Albert Kahn Associates Records 1825-2014".
  34. ^ "Albert Kahn Research Symposium".
  35. ^ "Archives of American Art, Albert Kahn Papers".

Sources[]

  • Blenz, Beth (1981). The Encyclopedia of Michigan. Somerset Publishers. ISBN 9780403099733.
  • Johnson, Donald L. (1997). Makers of 20th Century Modern Architecture: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN 1136640568.

Further reading[]

External links[]


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