arts&life

books

Two new books

take a look at two

unique aspects of

Detroit’s history.

Detroit By Design

TOP: In Designing Detroit:
In the lobby of the Union Trust
Building (now known as the
Guardian Building), two
elevator alcoves house stained-
glass windows.

details

To buy Designing Detroit: Wirt
Rowland and the Rise of Modern
American Architecture, offered
in hard copy and digitally, go to
wsupress.wayne.edu, amazon.com
or Pure Detroit stores.
To buy The Story of Sherwood
Forest: One Hundred Years a
Detroit Neighborhood ($29.95),
visit wsupress.wayne.edu or
amazon.com. Proceeds support
the Sherwood Forest Association
in making neighborhood
improvements.
To attend Homecoming Picnic
(4-7 p.m. Saturday, June 17, in
Sherwood Park) or the Home and
Garden Tour (noon-4 p.m. Saturday,
Sept. 9; $20), contact
rodwan@sbcglobal.net.

34

June 8 • 2017

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

B

uilding is at the heart
of a pair of new books
about Detroit.
While one covers enduring
architecture and the other cov-
ers an enduring neighborhood,
both reference influences of
the Jewish community and are
published by the Wayne State
University Press — and beauti-
fully illustrated with images
both historic and contempo-
rary.
Michael G. Smith, who does
research for the redevelopment
of older downtown buildings so
they can be restored to original
conditions, introduces people
associated with Jewish archi-
tect Albert Kahn in Designing
Detroit: Wirt Rowland and
the Rise of Modern American
Architecture.
Gail Rodwan, a lawyer and
47-year resident of the area
she documents, highlights
Jewish residents in The Story of
Sherwood Forest: One Hundred

jn

Years a Detroit Neighborhood.
“I wanted to give due atten-
tion to a true Michigan hero
who has been unrecognized
for the work he has done,”
says Smith of Rowland, who
designed many notable com-
mercial structures, including
the General Motors and First
National Bank buildings, as
Albert Kahn managed business
responsibilities.
“I wanted to include people
who were less famous so I tell
about Julius Kahn, Albert’s
brother, an engineer who is
a significant figure because
he invented a method of
constructing buildings of
reinforced concrete that was
extremely practical and reason-
able in cost. His methods were
widely adopted around the
world after coming to market
in 1903.”
Smith, active with
Congregation Shaarey Zedek,
was a graphic arts designer and

supervisor as well as executive
recruiter before doing archi-
tectural research based in his
Bloomfield Hills home. As
he learned about Rowland’s
contributions to the Detroit
skyline, he also learned that the
designer enjoyed choir singing
and could be heard at Temple
Beth El among various houses
of worship.
“My intent for the book was
focused on readers who don’t
have an architectural back-
ground,” says Smith, who took
pictures for his three-year proj-
ect that grew out of personal
research done as his interest in
architectural history expanded.
Two other Jewish archi-
tects covered by Smith are
Robert Finn, who designed
the Wurlitzer Building now
undergoing rehabilitation by
a New York firm to become a
106-room hotel, and Maurice
Finkel, who designed the build-
ing for the Detroit Free Jewish

Burial Association, now the
Bibleway Temple for Better
Living on Joy Road.
Way north and east of
that building is the area of
Sherwood Forest, bordered
by Seven Mile, Livernois,
Pembroke and Parkside, where
most homes were built into the
idyllic setting in the late 1920s
and 1930s.
Gail Rodwan delves into its
history with the help of docu-
ments and pictures found in
residents’ attics and basements.
Additional pictures were taken
by her husband, J. Gordon
Rodwan.
“For decades, Sherwood Forest
was a predominantly Jewish
community,” says Rodwan, who
also has been instrumental in
planning a Homecoming Picnic
on June 17 and a first-ever Home
and Garden Tour on Sept. 9.
“Some Jewish families still live
here, and those who have moved
away continue to express their

