 JANUARY 28 • 2021 | 15

Dedicated historical foundation to honor life’s work 
of Detroit’s master architect.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

IN 
THE
JEWS D
ON THE COVER

Preserving the Legacy of 
Albert Kahn

M

any Detroiters have visited the Fisher Building, 
Bonstelle Theatre or the University of Michigan’s 
Hill Auditorium without realizing that they were 
designed by Albert Kahn.
“He hasn’t gotten his place among famous Detroiters — 
his story doesn’t go everywhere although his work does,
” 
says Heidi Pfannes, senior asso-
ciate and director of business 
development at Albert Kahn 
Associates Inc. and president 
of the new Albert Kahn Legacy 
Foundation board.
As an immigrant from a poor 
German Jewish family, Kahn’s 
formal education ended at the 
seventh grade. However, he was 
mentored by several Detroit 
architects, studied extensively 
on his own, and demonstrated 
extraordinary talent, focus and 
determination as an architect at 
an early age.
Kahn achieved great success 
at a time when antisemitism 
was widespread in the U.S. and 
Detroit. During the 1920s and 
’30s, Detroit newspaper ads for 
apartment rentals could specify “No Jews or dogs.
” Kahn 
designed at least two private clubs early in the 20th century 
— the Detroit Athletic Club and Detroit Golf Club — that 
did not admit Jewish members at the time they were built.
Despite all these obstacles, Kahn’s body of work is aston-
ishing in its breadth of design styles, construction engineer-
ing innovations and the scope and volume of his projects 
— including factories, office buildings, synagogues, audito-
riums and a hospital among many others.
The firm he established in 1895, now known as Albert 
Kahn Associates Inc., designed 2,000 factories between 

1900 and 1940. His firm was the official consulting archi-
tect for the U.S.S.R.
’s Five-Year Plan and designed 500 fac-
tories there from 1929-1931. In addition, Kahn designed 
many American military facilities for World Wars I and II, 
as well as factories that produced war materiel.

LEGACY CELEBRATED
Last year, a group of local historians, architects, archivists 
and other interested volunteers established the Albert Kahn 
Legacy Foundation to “celebrate and preserve the legacy 
of Albert Kahn, often described as the foremost American 
industrial architect of the 20th century.
” One of the moti-
vating factors for the foundation’s creation was the 125th 
anniversary of Albert Kahn Associates Inc. last year. 
“We were getting so many requests for the Albert Kahn 
archives,
” Pfannes explains. “So many people are passion-
ate about Albert Kahn. We didn’t want it to be a company 
foundation. We need to be supported by the community.
”
About the same time, several Detroiters interested in 
history and architecture were talking about recognition 
for Kahn’s achievements. Kahn Legacy board member 
Levi Smith of Troy says that over the years he had visited 
The Henry Ford museum and Greenfield Village many 
times and noticed that there was no Jewish representation 
there. This oversight was particularly striking since Kahn 
designed the Ford plant, where the Model T was built, and 
the Ford River Rouge Complex among many other Ford-
related projects. 
“I started talking to people, and we put together a group,
” 
he said, with an initial goal of obtaining recognition for 
Kahn at The Henry Ford. Smith, besides being a Kahn 
Legacy Foundation board member, also chairs its Museum 
and Exhibits Committee. Detroit’s rebirth and the rehabil-
itation of some of Kahn’s Detroit buildings also made this 
particularly timely.
Eventually, the individuals interested in preserving Kahn’s 
legacy coalesced and established a nonprofit corporation 
— the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation — last year. Their 

continued on page 16

 Kahn at his desk, 1940. 

ALBERT KAHN ASSOCIATES

