Talk:Guardian Building

Untitled
Nice pics!--Mikerussell 00:13, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Pewabic tile
Is there for sure Pewabic Pottery on the interior? Carptrash 06:05, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

It is not at all clear to me
why there is that SEE ALSO section since all the things mentioned that are already linked in the article. Oh sure, it's another wall to hang my picture on, but. . ...... is that reason enough ? Carptrash 02:12, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

my New Year's Request
is that User Thomas Paine1776 would register and get a User Page and be a more responsible wikipedian - because someone has to double check all entries in red while those in blue can just be read and enjoyed. Carptrash 15:46, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Wirt & Corrado
have their own articles. No need for all this stuff again. Looks like cut-&-paste from wikipedia to wikipedia. ????? It's gotta go. Carptrash 22:43, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
 * i just moved all this. Pick and choose what goes and what stays if you wish. Carptrash 22:46, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Architect
Wirt C. Rowland, architect of the Guardian Building, the Penobscot Building, and the Buhl Building was born and raised in Clinton, Michigan. In 1901, he landed a job as an office boy for the Detroit firm of Rogers & MacFarlane, quickly moving on to the prestigious George D. Mason firm. In 1909, he joined the office of Albert Kahn, who had also apprenticed under Mason. In 1910, with the encouragement of both Mason and Kahn, Rowland attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, MA for a year.

The combination of Rowland's natural design talent, Harvard education, and Detroit's healthy economy positioned him to make major contributions to the city's architecture. Rowland is a case study in design attribution. In 1911, in the office of Kahn, he and Ernest Wilby are said have been primarily responsible for the Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan. Through 1915 Rowland worked for the local firm of Malcomson & Higginbotham. He then returned to Kahn's office, contributing to the firm's classic projects, namely the Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan, the Detroit News Building, the First National Bank Building(1922), and the General Motors Building (1922) renamed Cadillac Place.

Rowland's career peaked as Head Designer (1922-1930) of Smith Hinchman & Grylls (SmithGroup). There, he designed a dozen major structures in downtown Detroit; among these, are a number of the city's most accomplished and evocative buildings. To a large extent, Rowland helped define Detroit's architectural genre. For the Guardian Building, he had assembled a multitude of artisans, mosaicists, sculptors, painters, and tile manufacturers including Corrado Parducci, muralist Ezra Winter, and tile from the Rookwood and Pewabic pottery companies. He thus recreated the architectural sythesis of a medieval cathedral. Hence, Rowland had reached a climax, when his Union Trust/Guardian Building became known as "the Cathedral of Finance."

The Guardian Building opened in 1930. With the onset of the Great Depression, Rowland was laid off from Smith Hinchman & Grylls so formed his own office where his work decreased to a small number of churches, schools, and construction projects. Late in life, he returned to a purer, Gothic idiom for his last few projects, notably the Kirk in the Hills church which was finished after he died in 1946. During World War II, the Guardian Building would serve as heaquarters for war time production when Detroit was called, the "Arsenal of Democracy."

The building was purchased by Sterling Group in 2004. Under the group's watch, the Guardian's office occupancy rate has nearly doubled, its promenade has been opened to the public for the first time in decades, and the building now has a doorman. Since this time, the building has received exterior lighting accents at night and a new entrance canopy.

In the 17 July 2007 edition of the Detroit Freepress, it was published that Wayne County is expected to announce the purchase of the building for future county administrative offices. 

Sculptor
Corrado Giuseppe Parducci (March 10, 1900 - November 22, 1981) was an American architectural sculptor. He was born in Buti, Italy and immigrated to New York City in the United States in 1904. At a young age he was sponsored by heiress/sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and sent to art school. He attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and Art Students League. His teachers included anatomist George Bridgman and sculptor Albin Polasek.

Parducci was apprenticed to architectural sculptor Ulysses Ricci in 1917. While working for Ricci, and later while in the Anthony DiLorenzo studio, his work came to the attention of Detroit architect Albert Kahn. In 1924 Parducci moved to Detroit, where he spent the rest of his career. Parducci’s work can be found on many of the Detroit area’s finest buildings including the Guardian Building, the Buhl Building, the Penobscot Building (all of these with architect Wirt C. Rowland), the Fisher Building, Kresge, Springwells Water Treatment Plant, the Levin Federal Courthouse, David Stott Building, St. Aloysius Church, Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, Shrine of the Little Flower, Trinity Lutheran Church, Meadow Brook Hall, the University of Detroit Mercy and numerous other churches, schools, banks, hospitals and residences.

His sculptures can be found in most major Michigan cities including Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Marquette, Royal Oak, Saginaw, and Ypsilanti. By the end of his long and productive career, Parducci’s efforts adorned about 600 buildings.

The last commission Parducci completed was a portrait of architect Henry Hobson Richardson in a Romanesque setting that was carved on a lintel in the Senate chamber of the New York Capitol in Albany, New York in 1980.

Although Parducci worked in a variety of styles, notably Romanesque, Classical, Renaissance and even Aztec/Mayan/Pueblo Deco, it was his pioneering of the Greco-Deco style for which he is best remembered.

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 03:22, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Builders
I'm reading a biography of Henry Ford, which says that the Guardian Building was erected by the Guardian company, a multifaceted corporation organized by Ernest Kantzler and Edsel Ford. This is not mentioned in the article. Who is right? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.162.136.248 (talk) 02:43, 13 August 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://archive.is/20130121110309/http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=23 to http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=23

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Attribution
Text and references copied from William Edward Kapp to Guardian Building, See former article's history for a list of contributors. 7&amp;6=thirteen (☎) 10:44, 15 June 2021 (UTC)