Manufacturing Architecture: Albert Kahn in Windsor

Albert Kahn (1869-1942) has been hailed as the architect of the modern industrial era. His portfolio was phenomenal: reponsible for over 9000 projects, Kahn designed over 1000 buildings for the Ford Motor Company, including Detroit’s River Rouge complex (1917), the Model T factory, and facilities in Windsor, as well as hundreds of buildings for General Motors, and every building used by the Packard Motor Company.

Kahn also designed and built numerous office spaces, including the dazzling Fisher Building (1928), and the General Motors Building (1919) in Detroit’s New Centre disrict – a massive structure which was the largest office building in the world at that time. He also designed aviation industry plants, hospitals, banks, commercial and public buildings, temples, libraries, clubs and over one hundred spectacular mansions.

What is lesser known about Albert Kahn is the role he played in the design and construction of Walkerville’s finest buildings. Kahn actually made his mark in Walkerville as a young man, which led to a shining career as one of the greates architects of the twentieth century. Kahn was responsible for many fine commercial structures that remain in Walkerville, including the Town Hall (1904), the Bank of Commerce (1906), the Strathcone Block (1907), and many grand private residences, the most famous being Willistead Manor (1904). He also designed the entire Ford Motor Company of Canada complex in Ford City.

With unprecedented access to Albert Kahn arhives, guest curator Chris Edwards presents the architectural drawings of Albert Kahn’s early Walkerville projects to the public for the first time.