Southfield history tour features 'ode to aluminum'

Before going on to international fame as the architect of the New York World Trade Center towers, Minoru Yamasaki designed a gem of a modernist structure in 1959 in Southfield to serve as a regional office for the Reynolds Aluminum Company.

Located on the corner of Northland Drive and Northwestern Highway, this three-story building with an open design and central atrium, was hailed as an “ode to aluminum.” Atop the atrium, a skylight made of a series of pyramids floods the structure’s central core, while the glass walls of the upper floors are sheathed in light deflecting aluminum grills.

Years later the Reynolds Building was converted to a health club and is currently for sale by LA Fitness. The building will be open for the Southfield Mid-Century Modern tour.

Also open on the tour, which includes 26 buildings and three neighborhoods, are the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue and Northland Theater. Shaarey Zedek was designed by famed New York architect Percival Goodman with Albert Kahn & Associates. The synagogue, dedicated in 1962, is considered a masterpiece of modern design. The Northland Theater, built in 1966, is a classic of its era and one of the last theaters in Michigan to be built to seat 1,500 people in a single auditorium.

The bus tour, sponsored by the Southfield Historical Society, the City of Southfield Planning Department and DoCoMoMo, will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6, at Shaarey Zedek, 27375 Bell Road at 11 Mile Road. Free parking is available at the site. This is the second Mid Century Modern history tour in Southfield.

“The second Southfield Mid-Century Modern Tour scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 6, will include a walk-around of Minoru Yamasaki's masterpiece – The Reynolds Aluminum Metro Detroit Regional Office building (1959) on Northland Drive. On our last tour we were only able to view the building's exterior. Same for Shaarey Zedek Synagogue,” said Ken Siver, Southfield City Council president. A historian, Siver has written several books on the city.

“We are really pleased to add these two interiors to the tour and are appreciative of Fitness International/LA Fitness, Mid America Group Realty and the administration of Congregation Shaarey Zedek for accommodating our requests,” he said.

The tour will also include the Northland area, a loop through Northland Gardens, Washington Heights and Cranbrook neighborhoods, as well as the Northwestern Highway corridor. Duration of the tour is approximately two hours and 30 minutes.

Mid-Twentieth Century architecture and design (referred to as Mid-Century Modern) in recent years has seen a tremendous resurgence. Producers of TV shows, fashion and interior designers, museum curators, writers and others are re-examining this period resulting in renewed popularity of post World War II design.

During the 1960s Southfield was Michigan’s fastest growing city, Siver said. Because of that, Southfield has a large collection of Mid-Century Modern homes, commercial and office buildings and religious institutions.

DoCoMoMo (Documentation & Conservation of Buildings, Sites & Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement), headquartered in New York City, invited Southfield to join its 7th annual tour program. The Southfield architecture tour is one of more than 50 tours planned for the weekend of Oct. 5-6 in 23 states and 40 cities across the US. Of the more than 50 national events scheduled that weekend, four will be held in Southeastern Michigan.