Henry Ford Hospital Parking Structure

People: Albert Kahn

Date: 1959

City: Detroit

Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, photo by Rob Yallop.

The parking structure for the Henry Ford Hospital is located in the northeast corner of the hospital property adjacent to the John C. Lodge access road and freeway. The original five-story parking structure was completed in 1959 to provide approximately 870 parking spaces for hospital staff. A second, larger structure of similar design was added in 1967.

 

The parking structure is built of reinforced concrete and is clad with red brick at the first floor and compound-curved, white, precast concrete panels above. The red brick of the base was selected to harmonize with the red-brick cladding of the hospital's existing turn-of-the-century structures, while the precast panels were designed to screen the vehicles within and to be compatible with the surrounding residential neighborhood. The original plans called for landscaping around the base of the structure so that it would blend with the landscaped grounds of the hospital complex. The structure features an open-deck, split-level arrangement of floors, two passenger elevators and three stair wells for circulation of cars and people.

 

The Henry Ford Hospital Parking Structure was built in 1959 to accommodate a growing demand for parking following construction of the hospital Clinic Building (1949-55) which added 131,000 square feet of new office spaces and medical specialty offices. The severity of the parking problem was made evident by the banner headline of the May 1959 issue of the hospital newsletter, the Henry Ford Hospital Thermonitor, which read: "Construction of New Garage Begun – Relief of Parking Problems Promised."

 

The new parking structure was designed by Albert Kahn Associates and constructed by the Darin and Armstrong Construction Company. The new garage housed 870 automobiles and won the Excellence in Design Award from the Detroit Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1960. Within five years a second parking structure was needed. The second structure, the General Services and Parking Building, was built between 1965-68 and used an identical design vocabulary as the first garage. In addition to providing more parking spaces, the second structure also housed a central kitchen, general stores area, mechanical equipment and a twelve thousand-square foot radiotherapy department.

 

General Contractor: Darin & Armstrong