Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning July 2006 » Cass Tech (1922) Architect « Previous Next »
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4243
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have another architectural question I haven't been able to find the answer to. Does anyone know who the architect was for the Cass Tech building constructed between 1917-1922? I was thinking it may be Albert Kahn (who's firm designed the 1984 modern addition on the back of the school), but haven't been anle to confirm that.

BTW, after all that, I'm aware that the school has been saved from the wrecking ball, but has there been any other talk of renovation? Isn't it currently being used as a warehouse for DPS?

It was said that it would cost $120,000,000 to renovate for school use, again (as much as it costed to build the new school), but would it be more or less to renovate it for office of residential use? I'm not aware of where schools fall on the cost scale for office or residential buildings of similar size.
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Iheartthed
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Username: Iheartthed

Post Number: 165
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 64.131.176.232
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I forgot the name but it's the same person who designed the Frieze Bldg on U-M's campus. If that helps.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4245
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That helps narrow it down, but I can't find who designed the Frieze doing a random web search.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1497
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.157.67.223
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You can have a look around this HOF thread on Detroit school architecture, I know there are some photos of CT from when it was built. Don't know if the architect was mentioned.

https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/6790/62616.html?11560042 75
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Moreta
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Username: Moreta

Post Number: 265
Registered: 09-2004
Posted From: 209.131.7.68
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.michigandaily.com/m edia/storage/paper851/news/200 4/12/07/Opinion/Viewpoint.Demo lishing.History-1427421.shtml? norewrite200608252124&sourcedo main=www.michigandaily.com

"Malcomson and Higginbotham of Detroit, one of the premier architecture firms of its day, designed the building. Many of its buildings still stand throughout the state of Michigan as testimony to good construction and pleasing architecture. Almost all of them are on the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register. Among them are the David Mackenzie Home in Detroit (1895); the former Detroit Central High School (1896), now part of the Wayne State University Historic District, Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Detroit (1891), Starkweather Hall (1896) and Welch Hall (1896) on the campus of Eastern Michigan University, the Ford/MacNichols House (1896) in Wyandotte, the Henry Ford home (1908) in the Boston-Edison Historic district of Detroit, and many schools throughout the state, including Cass Technical High School (1907) in Detroit. In Ann Arbor they designed the Pratt Block (1896) on South Main Street and Memorial Christian Church (1891)."
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 1521
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.14.122.57
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks, Iheartthed, for the lead on the architect's name.

Way to go, Moreta!!! I had just myself uncovered the Malcolmson and Higginbotham connection to the Frieze Building and was getting ready to post. Thanks for uncovering this article!! I'll be putting a copy in my files for future reference.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4246
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wait, the information there says that they designed the 1907 Cass Tech which was the old Commerce High, right? Who designed the 1922 building?
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Livedog2
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Username: Livedog2

Post Number: 1027
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 24.223.133.177
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bravo, Moreta! Great info!!

Livedog2
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1498
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.157.67.223
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

They also did a lot of the firehouses for the DFD and elementary schools too.
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Moreta
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Username: Moreta

Post Number: 266
Registered: 09-2004
Posted From: 209.131.7.68
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 9:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Harumph. I can't find anything for the 1917-1922 building. :-)

And I was so proud of myself for actually contributing something. *sigh* ;)
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4247
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 10:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, we found out who the architect of the Frieze Building was. Don't feel bad. :-)
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 1522
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.14.122.57
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 10:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Good catch, Lmichigan!

From a press release for a Cass Tech fundraising gala (date unknown):

"The school [Cass Tech] has come a long way since it first opened in 1907, just south of its current location, on the third floor of the old Cass Primary School on Henry. Two years later, the Cass Union School was built near the primary school to house technical programs and the High School of Commerce, a business school.

A fire in 1917 destroyed the Cass Union Building and the current building was built in 1922."

(http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/s tory.asp?S=3309904)

And from the Forgotten Michigan website, a thread on Albert Kahn that mentions the 1922 Cass Tech Building: http://forgottenmichigan.com/p hpbb/viewtopic.php?p=6289

So it looks like more research is required...
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4249
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 10:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, that's why I asked this question because I was finding all kind of names for the different buildings and renovations of Cass Tech, names for everything BUT the large 1922 building. It seems like Kahn may be the right answer according to your second link, though.
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Moreta
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Username: Moreta

Post Number: 267
Registered: 09-2004
Posted From: 209.131.7.68
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 10:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.casstech.com/aboutC T.htm
"The problem was studied by the principal, Mr Allen, who with the assistance of two architects, drew up plans for the "Million Dollar Annex". The proposed building was to be 200 by 300 feet in size, seven stories high, with five elevators. The annex was to be built on the northwest corner of High Street and Second Avenue."


"Two architects" How's that for detail! :D
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4250
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 11:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

So, perhaps Malcomson and Higginbotham were also the architects for the "annex?" Does it look like their work?
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1499
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.157.67.223
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 - 11:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Has anybody done a book on the history of M&H, they seem to have had a hand in most of the institutional/civic architecture for many years in Detroit?
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Mccarch
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Username: Mccarch

Post Number: 86
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 68.255.242.63
Posted on Saturday, August 26, 2006 - 8:36 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Threads like this drive me crazy.

1. Why do people attribute buildings to Albert Kahn without any data?

2. Get off your duffs. Cass Tech has a humongous metal dedication plaque on the exterior southwest chamfered corner of the building (I-75 service drive and Second). I'm almost sure that it gives the names of the architects: Malcomson & Higginbotham. My concern in stating this is that, a while back, I noticed an edge of this sign had been pried out; I hope that the metal strippers haven't got it.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 1524
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.14.122.57
Posted on Saturday, August 26, 2006 - 9:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Or a trip to the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library! I'm sure that they have lots of information on Cass Technical High School and its predecessor schools and buildings. Their Reading Room files are bound to be chock full of newspaper clippings, in which somewhere there will be details of this building and its architect.

(Message edited by Kathleen on August 26, 2006)
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Iheartthed
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Username: Iheartthed

Post Number: 166
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 64.131.176.232
Posted on Saturday, August 26, 2006 - 9:36 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Kahn didn't design CT. Malcolm and Higginbotham sounds familiar...
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Ha_asfan
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Username: Ha_asfan

Post Number: 13
Registered: 06-2006
Posted From: 69.14.17.198
Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 7:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Head Designer for Malcomson was Niels Chester Sorenson who was credited with the design of Cass Tech High School. He is a rather elusive guy but seems to be responsible for quite a few buildings in Detroit.
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4277
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 8:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Where'd you find that out? Thanks! So, M & H is the architect of 1922 Cass Tech (i.e. the "Million Dollar Annex")?
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Ha_asfan
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Username: Ha_asfan

Post Number: 14
Registered: 06-2006
Posted From: 69.14.17.198
Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm researching Niels Chester Sorenson...he is the architect of the Rackham Golf Course Club House which the City of Detroit wants to sell, we all know that story...in my research Iearned that Sorenson was the Head Designer [official title] at M and H for a number of years and Cass Tech was one of his first projects. There are clipping files on Sorenson at the AIA office on East Jefferson. Check out his futuristic plans for the Elevated High Speed Motor Way.
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Detourdetroit
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Username: Detourdetroit

Post Number: 240
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.212.59.61
Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

M&H are the architects of record for the old building, although there is some confusion about who in house actually did the work as the old building's style is more industrial than some of their other stuff. There is also a question about if the war affected construction. 1917 is one date and 1922 is another. We're trying to figure that out. Kahn did the 1980's addition which was a much scaled back version of the original design. It is pretty horrible, although contains certain useful features. we're working with DPS to schedule and announce an rfp process. keep your fingers crossed.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1518
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 66.2.148.144
Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here's a photo of a newly constructed Cass Tech from WSU, for convenience.

Cass Tech 1922
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Lmichigan
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Username: Lmichigan

Post Number: 4283
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.177.81.18
Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detourdetroit, 1917 to 1922 is the construction timeline of the current building that stands at the site, and Ha_asfan just go through saying the lead architect for the project was Niels Chester Sorenson. I think that pretty much answers that. It's really great to hear an RFP may be put out for redevelopment. When should we expect to hear something, approximately? Later this year, early next year? Who do you work for? Perhaps I've missed this.
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Wirt
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Username: Wirt

Post Number: 30
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 64.243.32.9
Posted on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:17 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Malcomson & Higgenbotham drew up the 1917 / 1922 building in 1919. Albert Kahn was not involved.
According to the construction documents, the 1917 phase (starting from the southeast corner) consisted of the first 8 bays going north and the first 2 bays going west at the height of 3 floors.

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