Guardian Building Tour

Sunday, July 26, 2026 | 12 – 2 PM | $25

Join the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation for a behind-the-scenes tour with Michael G. Smith to learn about the Guardian Building’s many innovative features and the dramatic impact it had on building design.

Detroit’s Guardian Building is one of the most influential Art Deco skyscrapers in the world. Designed by Wirt Rowland, Detroit’s second-most-important architect, the building was completed in 1929 and immediately praised for its revolutionary ‘modern’ style.

Participants will have the opportunity to visit several non-public areas of the building, including the 32nd floor event space with fantastic views of the city, the beautiful wood-paneled boardroom, and the interior structural ‘guts’ of the building.

Michael G. Smith is an architectural historian and researcher whose work reconstructs the architectural and cultural evolution of 20th-century Detroit. He is the author of two landmark volumes: the 2016 award-winning Designing Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture, and Concrete Century: Julius Kahn and the Construction Revolution, which earned a 2025 State History Award. Beyond his scholarly publications, Smith serves as a founding director and officer of the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation. Through his authorship of successful nominations for the National Register of Historic Places, he actively champions the preservation of the city’s built heritage, ensuring that the legacy of the innovators who shaped the modern world remains as enduring as the structures they designed.