LIGHTHOUSE

William Livingstone

Memorial Lighthouse

Program: Navigation/ Commemorative

Designed: Albert Kahn (1930)

Style: Art Deco

Accessibility: Closed to Public

The all-marble, beautifully carved Art Deco exterior stands as a monument and relevant piece of infrastructure for freighter shipping. The lighthouse commemorates an influential media mogul, longstanding president of the Lake Carriers Association who led the construction of important infrastructures in the Great Lakes.

Managed:

A Beacon in the Dark

Designed by Detroit-based architect Albert Kahn, the lighthouse punctuates north end of the island. The ornamentation on the exterior was done by influential Hungarian sculptor Geza Maroti, and it is the only lighthouse in the US entirely clad in marble.

AIA Detroit labeled it “an elegant ode to the possibilities of art deco applied to tall buildings.”

While the structure is still present and send white and red flash, the building is off limits to park guests due to a number of burglaries and vandalism. In 1980 and 1981, thieves broke into the lighthouse and stole two of the four lamps and spray painted the base. The City of Detroit erected a fence around the lighthouse to prevent further vandalism that serves as a reminder of the struggles to preserve historical buildings in the region.