Detroit's Historic Places of Worship by Marla O. Collum, Barbara E. Krueger, and Dorothy Kostuch, eds. and comps. (review)

112 The Michigan Historical Review Marla O. Collum, Barbara E. Krueger, and Dorothy Kostuch, eds. and comps. Detroit’s Historic Places of Worship. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2012. Pp. 256. Appendices. Bibliography. Glossary. Index. Maps. Photographs. Cloth, $39.95. Over the past half-century, fortune was not kind to Detroit, and the city experienced a precipitous decline during these hard and lean years. Yet, despite the many troubles experienced by this struggling urban area, tangible visual evidence of Detroit’s past greatness, prosperity, and diversity can still be found in its surviving architectural heritage, most notably the magnificent places of worship that still grace the city. Detroit’s Historic Places of Worship offers a simultaneously poignant and triumphant glimpse into the robust past of the city and documents those architectural icons of spiritual community that continue to serve their congregations within the city’s borders. This book, originally conceived by the late Dorothy Kostuch and the late Lucy Hamilton, was greatly expanded and completed by primary authors Marla Collum and Barbara Krueger, resulting in a stunning work of great beauty and dignity. The authors have focused on 37 major churches, representing many denominations, which were built between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. The featured churches were constructed in a variety of styles ranging from Neoclassical to Baroque and everything in between, with Gothic in its various regional forms predominating. The churches are grouped into chronological chapters based on their dates of completion, and every entry provides both important historical and anecdotal information about each church, including original dedication dates and principal architects. That information was gathered by the authors from libraries, historical archives, and personal accounts, and it is clear that they have made every effort to squeeze as much pertinent information into each entry as possible. In this respect, Collum and Krueger have succeeded admirably. It is also worth noting that the authors have included both an appendix that provides biographical information for the architects of these magnificent structures as well as a separate appendix for many of the principal craftsmen, artisans, and technicians who so carefully embellished each of the churches with fine and inspirational creations in the form of stained glass, stone carvings, woodwork, metalwork, pipe organs, and other decorative and functional features. Additionally, a basic glossary of architectural terms is included as well as two detailed full-color maps as a locational aid. Book Reviews 113 The brief but informative narratives alone would make this work valuable to those with an interest in the history of Detroit or the development of urban church architecture. The feature that marks this book as something truly special, however, is the superb photography of Dirk Bakker. The book is in fact dominated by Bakker’s wonderful fullcolor photographs, through which he has succeeded in capturing the essence of these magnificent structures. His eye for composition and sense of architectural proportion is quite evident and wholly impressive. Having personally visited several of these churches, this reviewer can attest firsthand to the power and effectiveness of these images as true representations of their architectural glory. One minor criticism of this admirable book is that it does not go quite far enough. The authors have chosen not to include a few important religious houses, most notably some magnificent synagogue structures that still exist, albeit no longer as Jewish places of worship. Some readers may be left to ponder the reasons why the authors included an entry for only one former synagogue, Temple Beth El, which was transformed into the Bonstelle Playhouse in 1925, and curiously omitted other magnificent synagogue architectural survivors. For example, missing from these pages is another Temple Beth El, the synagogue that was built to accommodate that congregation’s relocation from the “Bonstelle” site. This imposing Neoclassical temple fronted by eight massive Ionic columns, which was completed in 1922 by prolific Detroit architect Albert Kahn, can still be viewed on Woodward Avenue at Gladstone. Similarly, the authors chose not to include the Neoclassical B’Nai Moshe on Dexter Avenue, completed in 1929, or the fine former synagogue of Congregation Shaarey Zedek, completed in the Romanesque Revival style by Albert Kahn in 1932, with its impressive Norman...