General Motors Building: Exterior view.

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Description:

View of the General Motors Building, renamed Cadillac Place in 2002, in Detroit, Michigan designed by Albert Kahn. “The mammoth General Motors Building, with its eighteen hundred offices, symbolizes the power, prestige, and scale of one of the largest manufacturing corporations in the world, the fifteen-story building consists of an elongated central block with four projecting wings on the front and four in back, which allow ample natural light and greater air circulation for the employees, a five-story annex is at the rear, created to house a wide scope of activities under one roof, the building contains an auditorium and exposition halls, as well as auto display rooms, shops, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and lounges, the structure was completed in 1923 … the limestone-faced, steel-frame structure vividly exemplifies Louis Sullivan's tripartite concept of the tall building: an open, arcaded basement element carries unbroken vertical piers through ten stories to a colonnaded crown, Kahn's treatment differs from Sullivan's, however, in that he concedes to the prevailing taste of the period by making his ornament classical," from the Michigan Historic Sites webpage.

Notes:

Collection located at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. To schedule an appointment to view the original image, order high resolution copies, or seek permission to use an image, contact the Walter P. Reuther Library Audiovisual Department at reutherreference@wayne.edu., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, and This metadata was created by Wayne State University Library system based on original description by the Walter P. Reuther Library

Date Issued:

1930-05-23T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Wayne State University. Libraries and Walter P. Reuther Library

Collection:

Virtual Motor City

Place:

Michigan and Detroit

Subject Topic:

Buildings and Office buildings

Subject Name:

General Motors Corporation, Kahn, Albert, and 1869-1942

Format:

photographs

Rights:

Copyright Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University

URL:

http://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:vmc7985