Please join us Saturday, September 14, at 1 p.m. for a guided walking tour of the architectural highlights of Detroit's New Center. Our guide, fellow alumnus Michael H. Hodges (SIPA '87), is a former Detroit News art critic and author of Building the Modern World: Albert Kahn in Detroit. Michael also contributes regularly to the online Detroit Art Review.

This is sure to be a fun and inspiring event — rain or shine. Please arrive in advance of our start time of 1 p.m. at the north end of the Fisher Building lobby (Lothrop Street side). The tour will take about two hours and involve walking about 10 blocks.

The New Center consists of four monumental Albert Kahn structures in a range of historical styles built from 1920 through the late 1930s.

In the Art-Deco Fisher Building, we'll consider the astonishing luxury of the four-story, barrel-vaulted lobby, replete with 40 different sorts of marble, and lavish ceilings with their orange-haired nymphs and heraldic eagles.

Behind the Fisher is the Albert Kahn Building, one of the architect's most-gracious achievements, and for decades the home of Albert Kahn Associates and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Once the world’s second-largest office building, the Neoclassical old General Motors Building was one of the first all-inclusive "city within a city" designs. And just to the south, the red-brick Argonaut was where GM design chief Harley Earl oversaw the design of some of the most-iconic cars of the postwar era.

Time permitting, we’ll also stroll down two handsome residential streets — Bethune Avenue and the Pallister Street Pedestrian Mall. Just north of the Fisher, both are part of New Center Commons, where General Motors renovated 125 homes and several apartment buildings in the late 1970s to recreate a middle-class neighborhood.

DETAILS:

WHEN: Saturday, September 14 at 1 p.m. Please arrive prior to 1 p.m. so we can start on time.

WHERE: Fisher Building, 3011 W. Grand Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48202, 313-874-1100, https://www.fisherbuilding.city/.

COST: $10 per person paid in advance. 

PARKING: On-street parking is usually pretty easy on Lothrop or Second, behind (north) of the Fisher Building. Note that you have to pay on Saturdays. There's also a Bedrock-run parking structure, New Center Garage at 116 Lothrop (between Second and Woodward, one block from Fisher).

RSVP: You must PURCHASE TICKETS with the link above right to secure your spot.

AFTERWARDS:

For those who wish to gather after the tour, there are several excellent options for a drink, coffee or food, starting with a couple of coffee shops:

The Gathering Coffee Co. is a handsome artisanal coffeeshop at 2831 E. Grand Blvd., open till 5 p.m.

Milwaukee Caffè is “an Italian-inspired” coffeeshop on 477 E. Milwaukee, open till 4. 

(Stella Cafe in the Fisher lobby is closed Sundays.)

Among the following bars and restaurants, all but Oak & Reel are within walking distance:

Northern Lights Lounge is an old-fashioned bar and restaurant that opens at 4 p.m. at 660 W. Baltimore. (Nota bene: It’s a little dark inside.)

Joe Louis Southern Kitchen is open till 4 p.m., at 6549 Woodward on the block south of Grand Boulevard.

Baobab Fare, a much-praised “celebration of East African food,” is open till 8 p.m., at 6568 Woodward at E. Grand Blvd.

Oak & Reel is a highly popular restaurant/bar at 2921 E. Grand Blvd. that opens at 4:30 p.m. (Not walking distance.)