  Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3141 Registered: 08-2004 |
As most of us here on this forum know, world renowned Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen came to metro Detroit in 1924 at the request of George Booth to start Cranbrook Academy. Mr. Saarinen designed the 1905 Helsinki Train Station, and became famous for his 1st place runner up entry in the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition. With Mr. Saarinen spending the last quarter century of his life here in Metro Detroit, it begs the question... did this world famous architect design any local architecture outside of his Cranbrook creations? And if not locally, how about nationally? With the legacy of Albert Kahn overshadowing metro Detroit, it sometimes requires a little digging to find the exploits of other well known Detroit architects, such as C. Howard Crane, Eliel (and his son Eero) Saarinen, and others. | ||
Ghetto_butterfly Member Username: Ghetto_butterfly Post Number: 660 Registered: 09-2004 |
Part of the GM Warren Tech Center was designed by Saarinen. Given the time period it was done, it must have been his son Eero, although I didn't know that there were two architects Saarinen. | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 1311 Registered: 04-2005 |
I think Ford Auditorium The St. Louis Arch http://www.nps.gov/archive/jef f/ar-eero.htm | ||
Iddude313 Member Username: Iddude313 Post Number: 35 Registered: 07-2005 |
Eero Saarinen also designed several of the tiles designs still in production today at Pewabic Pottery. | ||
Citylover Member Username: Citylover Post Number: 1882 Registered: 07-2004 |
Googling various architects with the word Michigan brings up interesting things.For example Wirt Rowland as we know did the Buhl,Penobscot and Guardian bldgs.But prior to that he worked for Albert Kahn assoc; he is credited with being the chief architect of Hill aud in Ann Arbor at the UM. Kahn is credited with being the architect of Hill. Yamasaki designed the Mich-con bldh when he was with Smith/Hynchmann (sp) but he is generally know as the architect of that bldg.So who really designed what probably takes some investigating. Of course this gives me the opportunity to declare Frank Lloyd Wright the worlds most over rated architect.His stuff looked cool but to my understanding it was hardly liveable and broke down a lot. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4749 Registered: 10-2003 |
Psip, Ford Auditorium was designed by O'Dell, Hewlet & Luckenbach, and Crane, Kiehler & Kellogg. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3142 Registered: 08-2004 |
Didn't Eliel Saarinen do an early Detroit Civic Center plaza design that was never used? Not sure if an auditorium was part of that design though. | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 3680 Registered: 10-2003 |
I heard he did the Fenton Community Center | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3143 Registered: 08-2004 |
Patrick, I was just gonna post that you were being a smarty pants with that comment, but I decided to Google it first... and lo and behold, you are correct!!! | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1717 Registered: 10-2003 |
Eero Saarinen designed the Flynn Pavilion on Belle Isle in 1949. (http://www.tellusnews.com/ahr/ flynn1.shtml) A couple years ago, the Cranbrook Art Museum showed the designs for the Detroit Master Plan of 1951. I know the Saarinen name is attached to one of the plans, but since Eero died in 1950, I don't know if Eliel worked on the submission alone or if Eliel collaborated on it before his death. (Message edited by Kathleen on November 24, 2006) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3144 Registered: 08-2004 |
Kathleen... you mixed them up... Eliel died in 1950 (in his 70's), and Eero died in 1961 (at the young age of 50). | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 3681 Registered: 10-2003 |
Any residential works in the area by him that no one knows of? | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 7150 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yes there are, but I don't know of any. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4750 Registered: 10-2003 |
Do you mean you don't know of any in particular? | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1718 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks, Gistok. I always have trouble remembering which one Saarinen is dad and which one is the son. | ||
Spaceboykelly Member Username: Spaceboykelly Post Number: 182 Registered: 04-2005 |
I have a wooden table and chair set designed by Eero Saarinen. [The son designed the Tech Center, and the father designed Cranbrooke.] | ||
Polaar Member Username: Polaar Post Number: 14 Registered: 10-2006 |
At Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills the father (Eliel) designed most of the campus including the Academy of Art, the Cranbrook Campus, and Kingswood, as well as numerous smaller structures and dwellings. The son (Eero) designed much of the furniture still in use all over the campus including the dining halls. Eero made his architectural name outside of Cranbrook. Some of his works include the CBS HQ in New York, The memorial including the arch in St Louis, the GM tech center in Warren, the MIT auditorium and chapel, and airport buildings at Idlewild (JFK) and Dulles. The best book on Eero is "Eero Saarinen and His Work" Yale University press 1962. Anyone interested in either Saarinen should take a tour of Cranbrook, including the Saarinen house that is only shown from late spring to early fall. | ||
Southen Member Username: Southen Post Number: 29 Registered: 08-2006 |
Cranbrook really is a masterpiece. The entire campus is fantastic but the art musuem is tops on my list. | ||
Dillpicklesoup Member Username: Dillpicklesoup Post Number: 238 Registered: 05-2006 |
yes- he did design the Fenton Community Center | ||
Fastcarsfreedom Member Username: Fastcarsfreedom Post Number: 81 Registered: 11-2005 |
Eero did two major "airport" projects--namely the TWA Terminal at JFK (Idlewild) which is Terminal 5, and the landside passenger terminal at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The Dulles terminal has been expanded--but was done so in keeping with Saarinen's design. The TWA Terminal has been vacant since 2001--however, it is being renovated/restored and will be integrated into the new terminal for jetBlue at JFK. | ||
Gumby Member Username: Gumby Post Number: 1473 Registered: 11-2003 |
Saarinen designed Woodside Curch up here in FLint. | ||
Fho Member Username: Fho Post Number: 55 Registered: 11-2003 |
Eero was the main judge at the Sydney Opera House design competition and found Utzon's winning design in the discard pile. | ||
Ha_asfan Member Username: Ha_asfan Post Number: 51 Registered: 06-2006 |
There are only four documented Eero houses, the only one in the USA is right here in Huntington Woods on Nadine two houses West of Dundee. This house was designed and constructed in 1939, undergone a nasty "renovation" yet, the form is easily recognizable. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 417 Registered: 04-2006 |
He designed the Amtrak station in Dearborn | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1123 Registered: 12-2003 |
If you take a tour of the Saarinen House at Cranbrook, a lot of these questions will be answered for you...of course, the last tours of the house, his residence at Cranbrook, were in early November I believe. They make people take off their shoes in the house, and in the winter too much sludge and crud was tracked in anyway. But check it out in the spring. | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 1041 Registered: 01-2005 |
In general... Eliel followed a totally different aesthetic than Eero. Eleil was a little prarie school, but also art nouveau with traditional elements. His design style, to me, was always a little hard to pin down. Eero was somewhat Miesean in his approach...some call it International Style. If I'm not mistake...the entire riverfront civic center design was lead, but not wholey conceived, by Eero. He was the master planner (In other words...I don't think he designed any part of cobo or ford theatre). While Eliel was a very influential Architect, his son is thought to have eclipsed the father in popularity. I think he's right up there with Mies, Wright, Gehry, etc. My two cents... | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3147 Registered: 08-2004 |
It's too bad that Eero died at the age of 50. Makes you wonder if he could have had another 20 good years of design ahead of him, he'd be even more famous. Books on Art Deco always have pictures of Eliel's house and furnishings. Even his wife Loja's textiles are famous. I remember reading that the garden in the Saarinen House at Cranbrook was always planted with shrubbery, but rarely with flowers. It seems that during their long tenure at Cranbrook the Saarinen's would spend 3 months every summer going back to their native Finland. Therefore there was no need for flowers in a garden that was unoccupied each summer. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1393 Registered: 05-2005 |
it has been credited to Eero, yes. and the portion he designed is nearly every building west of the train tracks that bisect the TC. I love driving in there every day for work, espcially on those mornings where the fountains are on and the sun is shining through the mist. (Message edited by gravitymachine on November 25, 2006) | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1450 Registered: 11-2003 |
I'd agree, and I'd probably go further and say that Eero is probably the best known of all of the Detroit-related architects (Albert Kahn, Minoru Yamasaki and Eliel being the other major ones). Google is one measure of that... "Eero Saarinen" generates the most hits.  Eero's connection to the Detroit area is perhaps not quite as strong as those others, though, certainly not like Albert Kahn's. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 391 Registered: 12-2005 |
Eliel's son, Eero, joined his father's firm (Saarinen, Saarinen and Swanson) following his graduation from Yale University in 1934 and began work as an architect. In 1941, Saarinen, Saarinen and Swanson was hired by the federal government’s Division of Defense Housing to design a development of homes and a school on a flat, approximately twenty-five-acre site outside Detroit. The 476-unit development contains a looping road that encircled a six-acre “village green” and provides access to four residential enclaves. One- and two-story wood-frame houses, each accommodating between two and eight families, are sheathed in redwood. This project was known as the Kramer Homes Defense Housing Project and it was located on the south side of Ten Mile Road, about one-quarter mile east of Van Dyke Avenue in Center Line, MI and it was completed in 1942. It provided housing for workers in the various defense plants in southern Macomb County, especially the Tank Arsenal on Van Dyke at Martin Road in Warren Township. In 1949, the development’s tenants, over 90 percent of whom were members of the United Auto Workers union, assumed ownership from the federal government and incorporated as Kramer Homes Co-operative, which exists today. source: Eero Saarinen Collection Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library http://mssa.library.yale.edu/findaids/eadPDF/mssa.ms.0593.pdf  Kramer Homes Cooperative - 2006 photo  The former Kramer Elementary School - 2006 photo | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 421 Registered: 04-2006 |
Dammit no one took my bait! | ||
Aarne_frobom Member Username: Aarne_frobom Post Number: 41 Registered: 10-2005 |
If I remember correctly, Eliel designed the Helsinki train station, and it is indeed "hard to pin down" as to whether it's moderne, art deco, art nouveau, or what. It does appear to be where the architects of Cincinnati Union Terminal ripped off the design for the facade of that structure. When I was in Helsinki around 1980, the bar in the station was called the Eliel. | ||
Dream Member Username: Dream Post Number: 135 Registered: 10-2003 |
According to literature from a 1996 AIA Detroit House Tour, father Eliel and his son Eero only collaborated on the design of only two houses. Both are in Michigan, one being the Saarinen House at Cranbrook and the other being in Grosse Pointe Farms at the corner of Ridge and Cloverly. 203 Cloverly Road Grosse Pointe Farms Charles J. Koebel (Ingrid V. Frendberg) House Architect - Saarinen, Swanson & Saarinen Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950) J. Robert F. Swanson (husband of Pipson Saarinen) Eero Saarinen (son of Eliel) 1939 - 4,000 sold for $295k in 1985 - Shares the same roof line, proportions and the first floor layout as the Saarinen House at Cranbrook. - Interior and furnishings designed by Pipson Saarinen and her husband, J. Robert F. Swanson. - Property contains three Saarinen designed gates. original parquet floors, Pewabic tile and mahogany paneling. - Original decorative stenciling on upstairs doors. - Original built-in dressers, desks and bookcases furnish four of the five bedrooms. - Repeated use of curvilinear forms. - Almost all of the house’s hardware is original. - Entrance Hall opens into a large Living/Dining Room and Library. - Library (12.6 x 11.0): - parquet floor - built-in bookcases - fireplace - Living/Dining Room (41.0 x 18.6): - Dining area is defined by a curved wall with fluted mahogany paneling and two circular recesses in the ceiling. - 3 niches with ceramic figures by Lilian Swann Saarinen - Garden Room (31.7 x 13.4): Lower Level: - Recreation Room (33 x 16): - fireplace - backyard has a unique curved brick wall - Featured in: - Grosse Pointe News (01/01/1948) - Detroit Free Press (01/1982) - 1996 AIA Detroit House Tour [1939-1961 Charles J. Koebel (Ingrid V. Frendberg)] [1961-1983 Charles E. Mosher (Sigrid Koebel)] [1983-1985 Sigrid Koebel] Photo and article from 1948. http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/d igitize/newspapers/gpnews/1945 -49/48/1948-01-01.pdf http://toybreaker.net/blog/200 5/07/architectural-tours.html | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1731 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks, Dream, for the links. Added bonus on the GP News article (which is on page 12, btw) is the lead-in article and photo of the Wardwell House. | ||
Dream Member Username: Dream Post Number: 139 Registered: 10-2003 |
Kathleen, You are most welcome. Thank you for adding the page number. The Wardwell House is quite special and is reported to be the oldest brick home in Grosse Pointe. The recently digitized historical archives of the Grosse Pointe Library are a great resource and a treasure trove of interesting historical information. The material can be easily searched by key words, enlarged and printed. Please see: http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us The available materials include issues of the Grosse Pointe papers dating back to the 1930s as well as W. Hawkins Ferry’s excellent “The Mansions of Grosse Pointe”, it is listed in the “Books” section. Please see: http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/d igitize/books/THE%20MANSIONS%2 0OF%20GROSSE%20POINTE.pdf | ||
Hybridy Member Username: Hybridy Post Number: 38 Registered: 08-2006 |
patrick check out the wayne state image collection and do a search for saarinen i got a few hits that seemed like something you may be looking for http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1733 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks, Dream, for the tips!! I'm sure that I will spend a bit of time checking out the Grosse Pointe News!! And I will read "The Mansions of Grosse Pointe"!! | ||
Mossman Member Username: Mossman Post Number: 16 Registered: 08-2006 |
A wonderful example of Eliel's work is the First Christian Church of Columbus (Indiana), which was built in 1942. Columbus is famous for its many buildings designed by nationally known architects. (Message edited by Mossman on November 29, 2006) | ||
Hornist9 Member Username: Hornist9 Post Number: 23 Registered: 05-2005 |
Holy Cow! My mom and dad were one of the original occupants of Kramer Homes. Thanks to MikeG for emailing me off list to alert me as to this thread. I have some photos of the "old homestead", and will post them as soon as I can scan them. Kramer today is much different than what I remember as a kid growing up there. When it became a co-op in 1949, it cost the whopping sum of $300.00 to buy into the "project" as everyone called it. My mother used to tell me that the buildings were only to be used during the war, and were to be torn down. I will return later and give a bit more history on Kramer Homes and how it evolved during the 46 years my mother and dad lived there. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 1754 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thank you, Hornist9! Sharing your reminiscences and photos with us will be much appreciated!! |
