Hill visits Cranbrook to lecture on ‘The Many Faces of Albert Kahn’

Eric Hill, a Professor of Practice in Architecture, will give a talk Sunday, April 19 at 4:00 PM at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills. The subject of the talk, “The many faces of Albert Kahn,” will focus on his life, times and works.

Photo Credits from Left to Right: Courtesy of Eric Hill, Courtesy of Edsel and Eleanor Ford House

Struggling son of German immigrants, self-tutored student of architecture, pioneering entrepreneur, prolific source of modernism, steely businessman, generous civic leader, and leading architect of the Arsenal of Democracy, Albert Kahn was a Renaissance man of many facets.  So, too, was his architecture, whose comparable breadth of design expression transformed greater Detroit over a half century of phenomenal creativity.  From American Arts and Crafts authenticity to Neoclassical sophistication, and from Art Deco finesse to industrial strength Modernism, the common denominator in Kahn’s portfolio was a search for design appropriateness. This talk will survey the breadth of Albert Kahn’s legacy to Detroit, America, and indeed the world.  It’s a fascinating story – one whose early chapters played no small role in the lives and works of George and Ellen Booth, and the founding of the Cranbrook Educational Community. For more information, visit the https://www.facebook.com/events/915756628464255/