SEPTEMBER 23 • 2021 | 21

OUR COMMUNITY

T

he Albert Kahn 
Legacy Foundation 
has created its initial 
exhibit celebrating the work 
of Albert Kahn, the world’s 
foremost industrial architect 
of the first half of the 20th 
century. Titled “Albert Kahn: 
Creating the Modern World,” 
it is on public display at the 
Fisher Building in Detroit 
through Sept. 30. While the 
Fisher Building is probably 
his most admired local struc-
ture, Kahn’s firm designed 
and engineered approximately 
20,000 projects throughout 
his lifetime.
These included hundreds 
of projects for the Ford Motor 
Company including the Ford 
Plant in Highland Park and 
the Rouge Complex. Kahn 
and his brother, Julius, an 
engineer, created open, light-
filled factories that were more 
comfortable for workers and 
more efficient than other 
manufacturing facilities of the 
early 20th century.
But the scope of his work 

extended beyond indus-
trial buildings. Locally, 
many of Kahn’s build-
ing are well known: 
Temple Beth El, built 
on Woodward near Mack 
in 1905; Hill Auditorium 
and other buildings on the 
University of Michigan cam-
pus; the Detroit Athletic Club; 
and the Edsel Ford House. 
Kahn was a first-generation 
German Jew whose formal 
education ended at the sev-
enth grade. He was a self-
taught artist and draftsman 
who apprenticed at a Detroit 
architectural firm where he 
quickly mastered the field.
Kahn, who lived from 
1869-1942, has several 
descendants in the Detroit 
area. His oldest child, the 
late Lydia Winston Malbin, 
was an internationally rec-
ognized collector of con-
temporary art. According 
to one local relative, Kahn 
often took Malbin’s daughter, 
Sarah (Sally) Robinson, for 
Sunday drives around Detroit 

while listening to the opera. 
Robinson, 96, who lives in 
Vermont and Florida, is an 
artist and her late husband 
was an architect. 
There are no Kahn descen-
dants currently working at 
Albert Kahn Associates Inc., 
which has its headquarters in 
the Fisher Building. However, 
one great-grandson is on the 
board of the Albert Kahn 
Legacy Foundation, which 
was established last year to 
honor Kahn for his innova-
tions and global impact. 
The current exhibit is 
part of the Detroit Month of 
Design program — a citywide 
event that celebrates Detroit’s 
role as a UNESCO City of 
Design. The Kahn Legacy 
Foundation is developing a 
larger exhibit for the Detroit 
Historical Museum next year. 
For more information, visit 
AlbertKahnLegacy.org. 

New Exhibit 
Celebrates Albert 
Kahn’s Life and 
Accomplishments

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

LEFT TO RIGHT: Albert Kahn’s legacy includes such innovative buildings as the Ford River Rouge Glass 
Plant, 1923. (From The Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of the Ford Motor Company). Hill Auditorium, 
University of Michigan 1913. (Courtesy of Michael G. Smith). Chrysler Corporation’s Dodge Half-Ton Truck 
Plant Export Building, 1938. (Albert Kahn Associates).

THE ALBERT KAHN LEGACY 
FOUNDATION. DESIGNER: ERIC KELLER

Detroit Athletic Club, 1915

Temple Beth 
El, Detroit, 
1903

Benzinga Founder 
Wins Award

Ernst & Young LLP named 
CEO Jason Raznick of Benzinga 
an Entrepreneur of the Year 
2021 Michigan and Northwest 
Ohio Award winner. The award 
recognizes entrepreneurial leaders 
excelling in talent management; 
degree of difficulty; financial 
performance; societal impact and 
building a values-based company; 
and originality, innovation and 
future plans. Raznick was selected 
by an independent panel of judges, 
and the award was announced 
during the program’s virtual 
awards gala on Aug. 5.
“Benzinga was founded with the 
mission to democratize financial 
news,
” Raznick said. “For too 
long, Wall Street has had an unfair 
advantage over main street by 
accessing data and information 
before smaller investors. 
Benzinga’s core mission is to 
bring easier-to-consume news to 
retail traders, in order to even the 
playing field between main street 
and Wall Street. While it is a great 
honor to be announced as an EY 
Entrepreneur of the Year winner, 
this is not an individual award, but 
a team award and a testament to 
all of the hard work by our team 
members.
” 
Benzinga, a financial media 
and technology company that 
empowers individual investors, 
was recognized as one of the 
fastest-growing companies in the 
United States in the Inc. 5000, 
a list of 5,000 emerging private 
companies in the U.S. This marks 
the first time that Benzinga, one of 
just 80 Michigan-based companies 
to appear on the list, has been 
featured. 

Jason 
Raznick

