Last week the New York Times published an interactive feature on the Lafayette Park Residential Community in Detroit which was designed by Mies van der Rohe, the German-American who was among the pioneers of modern architecture. The photos are spectacular. Van der Rohe also designed the 22-story Lafayette Towers Apartments East. Both sit just around the corner from where I work. I take afternoon walks (and runs) through this community area. This is one of the many unique features of Detroit that outsiders do not get to see because it ain’t burnt out. Mies was very Randianesque, though she (Ayn Rand) reportedly dissed international style modernism.

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