Wirt C. Rowland - Biography

Biography

Rowland was born December 1, 1878 in Clinton, Michigan to Clinton Charles and Melissa Ruth Rowland. In 1901, he landed a job as an office boy for the Detroit firm of Rogers and 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, 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. Of the Guardian building Rowland said, We no longer live in a leisurely age, . . What we see we must see quickly in passing, and the impression must be immediate, strong, and complete. Color has this vital power. 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 synthesis 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 preliminary sketches for the Kirk in the Hills. The church was built after the war to a design by George D. Mason & Co., Rowland having died in 1946. He was a member of the Chandler Park Partnership, a group of nineteen architects and engineers that designed Parkside housing project (1935–38) in Detroit.During World War II, the Guardian Building would serve as headquarters for war time production when Detroit was called, the Arsenal of Democracy.