Program - Society of Architectural Historians

TR20
Frank Lloyd Wright in Southeast Michigan
Dane Archer Johnson, Ferris State University,
Tour Leader
Frank Lloyd Wright designed a number of buildings
in southeast Michigan in the years after World War II. This tour
will visit three of his residences in the Detroit area, each of which
represents a variation on the Usonian theme. The Dorothy Turkel
House (1955) in Detroit’s Palmer Woods neighborhood is a concrete
Usonian Automatic house that has rarely been accessible to the
public. Its owners have completed a dazzling restoration that
brings the house into the twenty-first century but retains its original
character. The Melvyn Maxwell and Sara Stein Smith House (1950)
in Bloomfield Township is a classic Usonian house in a gracious
setting. The owners were patrons of local artists, particularly those
from nearby Cranbrook, and their collection of original works and
furnishings remains in the house, lending it a particular charm. The
Gregor and Elizabeth Affleck House (1941) in Bloomfield Hills, is a
striking Usonian that has been compared to Fallingwater, owing to
its integration with site and its cantilevered main floor, constructed
to project over a small stream and pond. Owned and maintained
by Lawrence Technological University, the house features unique
lapped wall construction and a fluid relationship between interior
and exterior.
1:00–5:30 p.m.
Maximum number of participants: 40
Mobility level 2, long driveway and inclines
Cost: $50 Includes transportation, bottle of water,
admission fees
AIA/CES: 4 LU
SUNDAY, APRIL 22
TR21 Ann Arbor: Town and Gown
Ilene Tyler, Quinn Evans Architects, and Grace
Shackman, Historian, Tour Leaders
Home to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is consistently
ranked as among the best cities to live in the United States.
With a history stretching back to 1824, the city offers a variety of
historic architectural styles from Greek Revival to modernist in its
downtown, neighborhoods, and university campus. This tour begins
on the University of Michigan campus at the iconic 1917 Michigan
Union and takes in the heart of the historic campus, including the
magnificent 1920s Law Quad with its contemporary underground
addition by Gunnar Birkerts, the Albert Kahn-designed Hill Auditorium
(1913), Graduate Library (1920) and Clements Library (1923),
the striking Art Deco Rackham Auditorium (Smith, Hynchman and
Grylls, 1938), Hugh Newell Jacobsen’s contemporary Alumni Center
(1983), and the quintessential student hangout on the “Diag.” After
returning to the Union for lunch in the beautiful Pendleton Room,
the tour moves from “Gown” to “Town,” visiting the city’s vibrant
downtown, its architecturally diverse neighborhoods, and the
world-famous Zingerman’s Deli in Kerrytown. The tour concludes at
55 / SATURday / SUNDAY • Tours \