Detroit-based Architect Albert Kahn was born in 1869 but his reputation as one of our best architects has endured long past his death in 1942. He designed the Kales building as an office for what would later be the K-Mart Company (it has been converted into apartments) as well as the Fisher Building, the Packard Plant, and the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores (just to name a few). Here now, a tipster presents a page from American Architect Magazine's June 19, 1912 issue. Here the building is called the American Electrical Heater Co, but today we call it the American Beauty Ironworks building. Yeah, that's right. The one that Wayne State wants to turn into a parking lot. The article credit lists Albert Kahn and Ernest Wilby as the architects, Wilby being one of the rare architects with whom Kahn would share credit. Our tipster writes, "it would be a crime if this building was demolished for surface parking." There is a petition you can sign if you agree.
· Fans of The American Beauty Start Petition to Stop Demolition [Curbed Detroit]
· American Beauty Factory's Fate Is A Plastic Bag In The Wind [Curbed Detroit]
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