Palms Apartments

The Palms at 1001 East Jefferson Avenueis a six-story apartment building initially built as a high-class residence. The historical importance of this building lies in its construction. Built between 1901 and 1903 at a cost of about $80,000, the architectural firm of Mason & Kahn designed this building to use reinforced concrete as one of its major construction materials, one of the first buildings in the U. S. to do so. Even though only the floors of the building are reinforced concrete, the method of reinforcing concrete with steel was new. The firm also designed the Engineering Building of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with the same technique. This method wasn’t fully developed until Julius Kahn, brother of Albert Kahn, developed the “Kahn System” of reinforcing the concrete and formed the Trussed Concrete Steel Company in Detroit to produce the steel bar that was developed for this system. In 1905, Building No. 10 of the Packard Plant was built using the new Kahn System. The Palms and Book families were the investors of this project and named the building after Francis Palms who lived close by. The “U” shaped building is solid masonry faced in limestone. The façade has a symmetrical appearance with octagonal towers at the corners. The original floor plans occupied an entire wing consisting of a double parlor in the front and a dining room with fireplace to the back separated by bedrooms, libraries, baths and more. In the 1930’s the building was divided into smaller apartments. Much of the original details still exist on the interior and exterior. The building was listed on the State Register in 1979, the National Register in 1985, and received Local Historic District designation in 1980.

Sources

"Palms Apartments," City of Detroit Planning and Development Department, 1980 Preserve Detroit, [1]