Water Board Building

Here are some pictures of a familiar yet overlooked piece of Detroit Architecture. This is the Water Board building in Downtown Detroit. It was built in 1928 by architect Louis Kamper , who was the architect of many downtown buildings. This building houses the Detroit Water Department, and people can come here to pay their bill as well. The plaque in the doorway lists the mayors who were in office during the construction of the building (Mayor John Lodge, who was in his third term as mayor when the building was completed, and Mayor John Smith), as well as the Common Council (that'd be the City Council now), and the Water Supply departmental officers.The white area at the top of the building lights up at night. Some of these names are familiar because there are streets or freeways named for them: Mayor John C. Lodge (namesake of the Lodge Freeway, M-10, which runs from Downtown to the northwest Suburbs), John Kronk (located on the southwest side of the city), Robert Ewald (Ewald Circle on the Northwest side), George Fenkell (Fenkell Street in the city-Five Mile once you get to the Western 'burbs). Also, Frank Book is a familiar name because he and his brothers were the namesakes for the Book Building and the Book-Cadillac Hotel on Washington Boulevard.