PRESERVATION DETROIT’S
50TH ANNIVERSARY LECTURE SERIES

April 10
6-7pm
The Congregation
9321 Rosa Parks Blvd.

April 24, 2025
6pm-7pm
Wayne State Planetarium
Old Main Building
4841 Cass (Room #0209)
Detroit, MI 48202

An Introduction to Art Deco in Detroit

Rebecca Savage, Architectural Historian

Since the 1920s, Art Deco has delighted people with its innovative use of materials and designs that capture the spirit of optimism to create the style of the future. Although the Detroit metro area is primarily known as an industrial region, it boasts some of the finest examples of Art Deco in the country. Structures like the Fisher and Penobscot Buildings are premier examples. The lecture includes metro-Detroit area theaters, homes, factories and churches.

Rebecca Savage was born in Detroit, and her professional career began in advertising where she worked for nine years. She later attended Columbia University’s school of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and received a Master of Science degree in historic preservation in 1997. Rebecca worked as a historic preservation specialist at the Greater Downtown Partnership. She was previously employed at Kraemer Design Group, a downtown Detroit architectural firm. Rebecca has served as a board member for the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, Preservation Detroit, and the Greening of Detroit. She also was chair of the Hamtramck Downtown Development Authority and served on that board for ten years. She is currently Vice President of the Detroit Area Art Deco Society. Rebecca has been an Architectural Historian at the City of Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board since 2020.

Detroit’s First Historic Markers

Jeremy Dimick, Director of Collections and Curatorial at the Detroit historical society

Co-sponsored lecture with Wayne State University’s Science and Humanities Under the Dome Lecture Series.

In 1926 the Hudson’s Department Store, City of Detroit and the Detroit Historical Society partnered to unveil twenty bronze tablets to  “acquaint Detroit with its early history, and to impress further upon the citizens of the city its present greatness by the contrast with its humble beginnings.” The program was the first historical marker program in the city, and the sites chosen for commemoration shed light on prevailing attitudes about the city – from inside and outside Detroit -  during a time when it was completely reinventing itself: culturally, politically, socially, and economically.

Jeremy Dimick is the Director of Collections and Curatorial at the Detroit Historical Society, which oversees a quarter million artifacts in the City of Detroit’s collection. Jeremy attended Central Michigan University and has worked with museum collections across the state at the Michigan Historical Museum, The Henry Ford, and Flint’s Sloan Museum before joining the DHS staff in 2017.

Sciences & Humanities Under the Dome is a free public lecture series supported by the Rita & Stanley Levy & Ratna & Vaman Naik Endowment. We welcome all members of the community to join us in the planetarium for these research lectures!

Light refreshments will be provided prior to the lecture. Doors open at 5:30pm.

Tickets are free for everyone. Limited seating. Please reserve your spot in advance.