Esoteric Survey

  McGregor Memorial Conference Center (1958) This was the first building Yamasaki designed on the Wayne State campus. College of Education Building (1960) by Minoru Yamasaki This was the second Yamasaki building on the campus. Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium (1964) I did a post on Wayne State the last time I was in Detroit.  I think the new photos are better.  One Woodward Ave was Yamasaki's first skyscraper. Reynolds Metal Regional Sales Office (1959) in Southfield Another repeat from 2018 . The interior is a bit rough. Temple Beth El (1973) in Bloomfield Hills The Minoru and Teruko (Hirashiki) Yamasaki House (1972) in Bloomfield Hills. Minuro lived here until he passed in 1986 and Teruko in 1997. He designed this lamp, which is still in the house. So is the screen his buddy Harry Bertoia made for him.

Did you know there was a monumental Doyle Lane mural in Michigan?  My recent trip to the water wonderland included a stop to see if  Lane's  Gold Arc  ceramic mural was still there.  It was commissioned for The B’nai David Synagogue Sanctuary, which was built in 1966--although the mural wasn't installed until 1968. The sanctuary was designed by Los Angeles architect Sidney Eisenshtat (1914-2004), which probably explains how a Lane mural ended up there. I believe this is his only large scale commission outside of California.  Also, this is a vintage postcard I bought online.  The complex is located in Southfield, an inner-ring suburb of Detroit. This was the third structure on the campus.  In 1959, Louis G. Redstone designed the first building in an International Style. Sidney Eisenshtat was Born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1914. His family settled in Detroit but moved to Los Angeles in 1926 in search of what was described as a "less anti-Semitic...

I was finally able to get my hands on a Giraffe family by Malcolm Moran  (1923 - 2011). In the original box from Hudson's! They were the anchor tenant and the company who hired Victor Gruen to design the  Northland Shopping Center Northland Shopping Center  (1954) by Victor Gruen. Located in Southfield, MI, a Detroit suburb. At the time, it was the largest shopping center in the country. Alvin Lustig collaborated with Gruen on the identity and signage. A number of artists were commissioned to do sculpture for the center.  Besides Moran, there was Marshall Fredericks, Joseph Anthony McDonnell, and Lily Saarinen (Eero's wife). Source: Victor Gruen and Associates The original Moran sculptures in bronze stood 25 feet high. Image: Life Magazine Hudson's offered dainty mementos for sale at the mall. Source: Detroit Free Press, 1954 Me too Billy, me too. Source: Detroit Free Press, 1954 Source: Architectural Forum 1961 Source: Detroit Public Library A fish sculpture by...