Detroit Architects: Spier & Gehrke

Spier & Gehrke was a 20th-century Detroit architectural partnership that commissioned homes for Detroit’s early business, industrial, and civic elite during the city’s rise as an industrial giant and subsequent economic boom.

Led by architects Frederick H. Spier and Hans Gehrke, which would later become Spier, (William C.) Rohns & Gehrke, the firm is best remembered for their intricately designed churches and railroad stations that often featured Richardson Romanesque and neoclassical design elements.

For proof of their mastery, look no further than the Robert Traub House at 211 Arden Park Boulevard in the Arden Park–East Boston Historic District, which Spier & Gehrke designed to fit right in among an equally architecturally rich collection of commissioned residences in one of Detroit’s most distinguished neighborhoods.