Window Restoration with Innovative Sustainability

This postcard gives us a visual representation of the New Center Historic District as seen during the 1940’s. The purpose of this image is to establish context for people who are unfamiliar with Detroit. The New Center Historic District is three miles north of Detroit and positioned west of the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard.¹ This area was constructed during the 1920’s “as a business hub that offered convenient access to both Downtown Detroit and to its many outlying factories.”² The Heart of the New Center Historic District is defined by three primary buildings.  A) The Neo-Classical General Motors Building completed in 1923, B) The Fisher Building completed in 1928 in the Art Deco Style, and C) The New Center Building completed in 1931 also designed in Art Deco Style. All three of these buildings were designed by architect, Albert Kahn, who is perhaps Detroit’s most prolific and well-known architect. Albert Kahn & Associates was established in Detroit in 1895. All three of these buildings were commissioned by the Fisher Brothers, who were known for mass producing closed body frames that could withstand the “weight and vibrations” of the powerful automobile engines.³ (FIGURE 1)

¹“New Center Area Historic District.” https://detroithistorical.org

²Ibid.

³McDonald, Blake. “Albert Kahn Building,” HistoricDetroit.org,  https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/albert-kahn-building

Figure 1

The General Motors Building (1928) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The building is fifteen stories in height and was General Motors World Headquarters until 2001. The building contained two swimming pools, tennis, and handball courts, had nineteen bowling alleys, nine automobile showrooms, and a four-story laboratory.⁴ The Fisher Building (1931) has two eleven story wings and a twenty-eight-story central tower. This building is considered Albert Kahn’s architectural masterpiece and is often referred to as “Detroit’s Largest Art Object.”⁵ The Fisher has six hundred and forty one Bronze elevator door leaves, eighteen hundred bronze windows, and a three-story barrel vaulted lobby with elaborate marble and mosaics.⁶ The National Park Service also recognized the significance of this building, “a superbly designed complex which displays some of the finest craftsmanship in any Art Deco style building constructed in the U.S. in the 1920s.”⁷ (FIGURE 2)

⁴Austin, Dan. “Cadillac Place,” HistoricDetroit.org,  https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/cadillac-place

⁵Austin, Dan. “Fisher Building,” HistoricDetroit.org, https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/fisher-building

⁶Ibid.

⁷Ibid.

Figure 2

Lastly, the New Center Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and renamed the Albert Kahn Building in 1988. This Art Deco building is eleven stories tall and was completed in 1931. The New Center Building was designed to “echo the opulence of the nearby Fisher Building.” Details like the granite and bluestone façade cladding, the two-story decorative metal grille over the main entrance, the building’s seven hundred bronze windows, and an elaborate marble vaulted lobby all create an undeniable connection to the Fisher Building. The intentional decision to connect the three buildings underground by passageways further strengthens their bond, allowing for easy circulation of people and material during Detroit’s long and harsh winter months. The New Center Building was home to Albert Kahn’s architectural practice until 2018 and three floors were home to Saks Fifth Avenue from 1940-1979. According to Historic Detroit, the 60,000 square foot store contained a lunchroom, a beauty salon, and was meant to feel more like a spacious house by eliminating the sales counter. The store encouraged visitors to wander and explore, creating a more interesting shopping experience. (FIGURE 3)

Figure 3

Allen Architectural Metals was contacted by Cunningham Limp, the General Contractor, in the Summer of 2019. The original plan by the developers was to simply clean the seven hundred double hung bronze windows, replace broken glass with ¼” monolithic glass when required and install storm windows. After conducting a visual assessment and completing our documentation, we concluded that the windows were in excellent condition despite having little to no maintenance over the years. We believed that a more appropriate solution for a residential conversion would be to restore the windows and make them operable by supplying an insulated glass option that the existing glazing pockets could accommodate. We asked the client if they would allow us to conduct market research on glass. Our hope was that could find a product that gave them performance properties and that there might be a way to retrofit the historic windows. The client agreed and we reached out to the APT preservation community to see if anyone had knowledge of a glass supplier that could help us. A colleague we spoke to remembered visiting an NSG booth at an Exhibition Hall at a previous APTI Conference in Montreal. She suggested I reach out to Kyle Sword from NSG about Pilkington glass products. Conveniently, NSG is located in Toledo, Ohio and Kyle was happy to drive to Detroit for the day to visit our project. He felt that this was a terrific opportunity to specify Pilkington Spacia Glass for a commercial application. Together, we developed pricing, assembled technical data and glass samples, and internally AAM created several bronze finish samples to present to the architect and Owner. Our meeting was a success, and everyone was enthusiastic about the opportunity to pursue a different path for the restoration. Kraemer Design Group, the lead architect on the project, submitted all our information to the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office for consideration of our alternate proposal for the Albert Kahn Building window restoration. (FIGURE 4)

Figure 4

Additionally, we approached the General Contractor about the possibility of setting up a shop onsite as the ground floor had a rather large floor plate and the project schedule was estimated over two years. They were open to the idea, which gave us a unique opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint by eliminating shipping and trucking to and from the shop in Alabama. By setting up our shop on the ground floor of the building, we were able to oversee all aspects of the project including- metal cleaning, threaded rod repairs for the bronze frames when necessary, and ease of quality control checks for glazing, and finishing. We also felt strongly about our commitment to the city in which we lived, to the restoration of its historic architecture, and to the residents of Detroit. For this reason, we hired local Detroiters with basic mechanical skills and trained them on how to successfully complete the restoration work at the Albert Kahn Building. We are pleased that many of them are still employed with Allen Architectural Metals and are now working on other restoration projects in Detroit such as Michigan Central Station and the Cadillac Book Tower Redevelopment. (FIGURE 5)

Figure 5

The project architects, Kraemer Design Group, wanted a more natural patina or oxidized “green” look for the exterior bronze frames and sashes. In comparison, on the interior of the building they wanted an antique bronze statuary finish on the frames and sashes. This gave them a “warm golden” tone to compliment the interior finishes of the building. We achieved this desired look with a combination of cleaning, hand finishing and waxing. (FIGURE 6)

Figure 6

The residential conversion of the Albert Kahn Building required the use of a variety of development incentives to make it viable. The success of “The Kahn” is due in large part to city tax abatements, historic tax credits, state and local brownfield redevelopment tax captures, and opportunity zone investment strategies.⁸ (FIGURE 7)

⁸ Reindl, JC. “Detroit’s historic Albert Kahn Building transformed into upscale apartments: Look Inside.” Detroit Free Press, July 29, 2021. https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2021/07/29/new-center-detroit-albert-kahnapartments/5374214001/#:~:text=The%2011%2Dstory%20Art%20Deco,penthouse%20units%20with%20private%20terraces.

Figure 7

Upon completion, the project was a $70,000,000.00 renovation with conversion of office space into one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments with a 20% affordable housing component.⁹ “Our ultimate goal was not only to keep the grandeur of the building, but to improve and modernize where we saw opportunity,” says Matthew Sosin, president of Northern Equities Group. “We have been able to establish contemporary, modern homes while honoring the overall legacy of one of Detroit’s treasures. We believe everyone in Detroit will be proud of the results and expect The Kahn to further engage the New Center and Midtown North neighborhood.”¹⁰ (FIGURE 8) Completed images from the restoration work on the historic double hung bronze windows revealed gorgeous hardware and impeccable details. (FIGURE 9) This project has received positive press in the City of Detroit. A writer for Historic Detroit was quoted as saying, “This is one of the finest renovations and conversions into residential I’ve seen in this City.” ¹¹ Our project team at Allen Architectural Metals would most certainly agree.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Bekemeyer, Jake. “Renovation of Historic Albert Kahn Building in Detroit into Apartment Community Complete.” July, 21, 2021. Detroit Business, https://www.dbusiness.com/daily-news/renovation-of-historic-albert-kahn-building-in-detroit-into-apartment-community-complete/

¹¹ Austin, Dan. Official Instagram Account for Historic Detroit, August 18, 2021.

Figure 8

Figure 9

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Austin, Dan. “Cadillac Place,” HistoricDetroit.org,
https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/cadillac-place

Bekemeyer, Jake. “Renovation of Historic Albert Kahn Building in Detroit into Apartment Community Complete.” July, 21, 2021. Detroit Business,
https://www.dbusiness.com/daily-news/renovation-of-historic-albert-kahn-building-in-detroit-into-apartment-community-complete/

McDonald, Blake. “Albert Kahn Building,” HistoricDetroit.org,  https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/albert-kahn-building

Reindl, JC. “Detroit’s historic Albert Kahn Building transformed into upscale apartments: Look Inside.” Detroit Free Press, July 29, 2021.
https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2021/07/29/new-center-detroit-albert-kahnapartments/5374214001/#:~:text=The%2011%2Dstory%20Art%20Deco,penthouse%20units%20with%20private%20terraces.

“Section Cut: Detroit’s Largest Object. The Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan. April 23, 2021.
https://www.buildingenclosureonline.com/articles/89784-section-cut-detroits-largest-art-object