Visual art / Architecture & design
Corrado Parducci
1900–1981 · architectural sculptor
Italian-born architectural sculptor who came to Detroit in 1924 to work for Albert Kahn and decorated some 600 buildings, including the Guardian, Penobscot and Fisher buildings.
- Born
Buti, Italy- Died
aged 81- Birth name
- Corrado Giuseppe Parducci
- Detroit years
- 1924–1981
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Parducci was born near Pisa in 1900 and came to New York with his family in 1904, where the sculptor and heiress Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney sponsored his art training. His work for New York ornamental studios caught the eye of Detroit architect Albert Kahn, who in 1924 asked him to come to Detroit for a few months to work on two bank buildings on Griswold Street. With the auto boom creating a building frenzy, he moved his family to Michigan and stayed for the rest of his career. Working from a studio at Cass Avenue and Sibley Street, he carved and modeled ornament for the Buhl, Penobscot, Fisher and Guardian buildings, the Detroit Masonic Temple, the Music Hall, Meadow Brook Hall, the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House and the Detroit Historical Museum, as well as churches, schools and homes across Michigan. He is best remembered for a stylized, classical Art Deco often called Greco Deco.
Highlights
- Came to Detroit in 1924 at Albert Kahn's invitation
- Ornament for about 600 buildings
- Sculpture on the Guardian, Penobscot and Fisher buildings (1928–1929)
- Lobby work at the Detroit Masonic Temple (1926)
- Pioneer of the Greco Deco style
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 5
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1928–1929
Guardian Building
Wirt Rowland's Art Deco skyscraper, one of the Detroit buildings Parducci decorated.
Worked here · 1927–1928
Penobscot Building
Griswold Street tower whose Native American-themed ornament Parducci worked on.
Worked here · 1926
Masonic Temple
The world's largest Masonic temple; Parducci carried out lobby decoration under contract to Anthony Di Lorenzo.
Worked here · 1951
Detroit Historical Museum
Midtown museum of Detroit history, whose 1951 building includes Parducci's work.
Worked here · 1927
Edsel and Eleanor Ford House
Lakeshore estate of Edsel Ford, now a house museum; Parducci contributed carved decoration.