The Fisher Building in Detroit is the largest commercial building with walls and floors clad in marble. In total, the building features 40 types of this stone, and the total area of the marble slabs is 30,200 square metres. However, it is not the marble that is the most important feature of the Fisher Building, but the spectacular decorations by the master of Hungarian Art Nouveau, Géza Maróti. In turn, one of Detroit’s most important architects – Albert Kahn – combined Art Deco, flowing with gold and marble, with Maróti’s spectacular art. Interestingly, had it not been for the Great Depression of 1929, Kahn’s building would have become the largest commercial building in the world.
An act of gratitude
In the early 20th century, the Fisher brothers, originally from Ohio, came up with a brilliant idea. Their business involved the manufacture and sale of car bodies and chassis. After a dozen or so years, the brothers sold the business for over $200 million (which would be around $2.5 billion today) and began funding various buildings in Detroit. The brothers wanted to repay the city that had helped them amass a colossal fortune.
The millionaires began donating money to foundations and churches, and their showpiece gift to the city was to be the world’s largest commercial building. They commissioned this task to the architect Albert Kahn, who had made a name for himself with his modern designs for the car factories of Ford, Chrysler and, of course, General Motors. It was this latter automotive giant that had previously bought the Fisher company. In addition to factories, Kahn’s portfolio already included lavish mansions, the first office blocks and the buildings of the University of Michigan.
Crucially, the brothers told the architect to go all out. A massive budget of $3 million allowed for the creation of “the city’s greatest work of art”. Interestingly, the architect had originally envisaged a building three times larger, but the Great Depression of 1929 thwarted those plans.
Importing talent
Albert Kahn was equally at home with all the styles of the time, from early modernism to neo-Gothic, but on this occasion he opted for Art Deco. This was yet another style introduced to the New Centre area, a business district set apart from the city centre and designed mainly by Kahn. However, the architect did not work on the project alone, and a significant portion of the ideas were suggested by his collaborator Joseph Nathaniel French and the Hungarian artist Géza Maróti.
French drew inspiration from one of the most influential designs of the time. The unrealised competition entry by the Finnish genius Eliel Saarinen from 1922 became the basis for a dozen or so skyscrapers that are now considered icons (e.g. the American Radiator Building). Although his Chicago Tribune Tower design did not win, the architect indirectly contributed to the creation of the Fisher Building. The stepped Art Deco form served as the main inspiration for the skyscraper’s architects.
What is more, it was Saarinen who invited Géza Maróti, already highly regarded at the time, to America. The genius of Hungarian Art Nouveau began with sculptures on the façades of buildings in Budapest, and in time designed the Hungarian pavilion in Venice and the most magnificent Art Nouveau detail in Mexico – the dome of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Thanks to his experience, the Hungarian was given free rein inside the Fisher Building, which was lavishly adorned with marble and gold.
The Marble Tower
The 135-metre-tall skyscraper was once hailed as the most beautiful building in the world. Its stepped form and delicate geometric ornamentation were crowned by a golden hipped roof. Interestingly, Kahn wanted the building’s exterior decorations not to form a chaotic jumble but merely a subtle detail. According to the architect, a good design had to be balanced in its details. For this reason, only small medallions, reliefs and gargoyles can be seen on the façade.
The lower part of the façade is clad in grey granite, whilst marble slabs adorn the upper section. It is also worth noting that the sculptures on the façade were created by eminent artists such as Corrado Paraducci, whose works can be admired on the façade of the equally ornate Guardian Building. Works by Maróti were also a must.
Whilst the façade of the Fisher Building is not as ornate as some buildings from this period, the skyscraper’s impressive interior is lavishly decorated. Visitors are greeted by a massive barrel vault reaching up to the third floor. The entire lobby is clad in Italian and Carthaginian marble, and the building contains around 40 different types of this stone. However, the most spectacular feature of the interior is Maróti’s artwork.
Hungarian Art Nouveau
The enormous frescoes were completed in just two months, with the artist assisted by two other painters. The magnificent Art Nouveau paintings draw on Greek motifs, various American values and the overall power of the USA. Maróti introduced the Hungarian motif of conifer branches, previously unknown in those parts, and combined them with allegorical figures with red hair. The 26 lunettes also feature references to freedom, justice, art and many other values. Ancient motifs also appear on the floor, which features a circular relief depicting Mercury – the god of trade, transport and travellers. The relief is made of bronze, as are most of the metal details.
Among the more interesting finishing touches are the lamps with petal-shaped shades and the coffered ceilings in some of the rooms. All this opulence was intended to present an optimistic image of the United States as a nation that is already a superpower, but could be even stronger. Hence the Zeus-like eagles, which are just spreading their wings. Interestingly, the upper floors were no less opulent than the lobby. Marble, fine walnut and Persian carpets were found everywhere.
A monument to hope
The building was completed in just 15 months, and its construction consumed: 12,000 tonnes of steel, 420 tonnes of bronze fittings, over 2,000 km of cables and, finally, 30,200 square metres of marble. Unfortunately, the optimistic vision of the interior did not come to fruition, as just one year after the Fisher Building opened, America began to face the Great Depression. During the Second World War, the golden roof was covered with asphalt as a precaution against bombing, but after 1945 it turned out that the covering could not be removed. Since then, the roof has been adorned with green tiles. It is also worth noting that until the 1960s, the building housed an incredibly ornate theatre in the Neo-Mayan style, though over time the decorations were stripped away.
The Fisher Building still stands today as one of the finest examples of Detroit’s former grandeur. In 1928, when the skyscraper was completed, Detroit was the third-largest city in the US, but by the time the Fisher brothers and architect Albert Kahn passed away, the city was falling into ruin. Today, following years of hard work by local authorities and entrepreneurs, Detroit has recorded its first population growth after decades of depopulation.
Source: Fisher Building
Read: Architecture | Skyscraper | United States | Art Deco | Art Nouveau | whiteMAD on Instagram
