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