“AMERICA’S TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP FOR DECADES TO COME”
This little known quote came from GM’s mid-century leaders who were the first to open the doorway to the world we all live in today!
ON THE HEELS OF WORLD WAR TWO
Throughout the land, on August 5, 1945, General Motors made a stunning announcement in newspapers and magazines (2-page ad in LIFE, shown at top). With the war not even over, GM’s leaders were clearly headed in a bold new direction building the world’s first major Technology Center.
The GMTC’s twenty-two acre lake was a central element and on the west side was a gigantic fountain that formed a wall of water 115 feet long and 50 feet high. A smaller decorative fountain, designed by the sculptor Alexander Calder, was placed at the northwest corner of the lake.
Nicknamed the "teacup," the lobby desk of the GM Styling Section administration building was just another one of Earl’s playful modern gestures. The Detroit Free Press wrote, "The doors at the GM Tech Center open up to a world of the future."
‘VERSAILLES OF INDUSTRY’
LIFE wrote a glowing article titled, Architecture for the future — GM Constructs a ‘Versailles of Industry’ and the reference stuck and was nationally heralded in the media. Harley Earl conceived of the GMTC idea, picked the location site and even chose the local Michigan father & son Saarinen architectural team to design it. With its many futuristic nuances this architectural tour de force is the epitome of mid-century modern and many leading architects today view it as being still modern.
The excerpt directly below is from a mid-Fifties issue of Industrial Design and the entire magazine was dedicated to Design In Detroit:
From the section, “Industry Embraces Art:” The number one architectural event in Detroit is the spectacular new General Motors Technology Center, covering a mile-square plain a dozen miles north of the city. It is architecture on unprecedented scale – actually a complete research town where each of the five major GM research functions has its own complex of buildings, pools, landscaped squares and gardens. The 17 individual structures, low and generously spaced, surround a 1780 ft. lake and are encircled by drives and shaded parking areas. Final touches are just being put on the Styling Section – the cornerstone of a $100 million project that has been underway for a decade.
"The world’s most modern and complete industrial design center," said Harley J. Earl (HJE) in a 1957 INTERIORS magazine article (first page of this article is shown further down). GM backed up Mr. Earl's statement corroborating how his organization of more than 1,000 skilled personnel was, "the largest of its kind in the world."
Before retiring in Nov., 1958, Mr. Earl ordered a GM film be made titled, Up from CLAY, which was released in 1959. The color movie details this auto pioneer’s “Car Design Manufacturing Technology” and every one of the world’s largest modern automakers went on to adopt it for car and truck building. The technology that HJE introduced to GM in 1927 was, is and still remains the heavy weight champion engineering operating system of the global automotive economy in 2021 and beyond.
One of GM Styling’s proteges said, “Harley’s ties were always memorable!”
Favorite online comment by Flamingokid: “The best style era ever. The clothes, the furniture, building and automotive design was never cleaner. As much as I like Art Deco, Mid Century Modern was a complete lifestyle. I even own a couple of Saarinen chairs, among my other treasures.”