Guardian Building, Detroit, Michigan

Corrado Giuseppe Parducci (March 10, 1900 – November 22, 1981) was an Italian-American architectural sculptor who was a celebrated artist for his numerous early-20th century works.

Early life and education

Parducci was born in Buti, Italy, a small village near Pisa, and immigrated to New York City in the United States in 1904. At a young age, he was sponsored by heiress/sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and sent to art school. He attended the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and Art Students League. His teachers included anatomist George Bridgman and sculptor Albin Polasek.[1]

Training and career

Parducci was apprenticed to architectural sculptor Ulysses Ricci in 1917. While working for Ricci, and later while in the Anthony DiLorenzo studio, his work came to the attention of Detroit architect Albert Kahn.

In 1924 Parducci traveled to Detroit to work for Kahn, only planning to stay for a few months. However, with the automotive industry booming in the 1920s, Parducci moved his family to Michigan and ended up spending the rest of his career working from Detroit. One of Parducci's known Detroit studios was located at Cass Ave. and Sibley St., but it has been demolished. Parducci's studio had tall windows which illuminated his work. Parducci's work can be found on many of the Detroit area's finest buildings including churches, schools, banks, hospitals, and residences.[1][2]

Rackham Fountain, Detroit Zoo

His sculptures can be found in most major Michigan cities including Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Marquette, Royal Oak, Saginaw, Midland and Ypsilanti. By the end of his long and productive career, Parducci's efforts adorned about 600 buildings.

The last commission Parducci completed was a portrait of architect Henry Hobson Richardson in a Romanesque setting that was carved on a lintel in the Senate chamber of the New York State Capitol in Albany, New York in 1980.

Although Parducci worked in a variety of styles, notably Romanesque, Classical, Renaissance, and even Aztec/Mayan/Pueblo Deco, it was his pioneering of the Greco Deco style for which he is best remembered.

Parducci's Detroit Masonic Temple lobby

Anthony Di Lorenzo, New York ornamentalist, held two contracts for interior decoration in the Detroit Masonic Temple - #1 (Corrado Parducci) $13,160.00 and #2 for $9,680.00. Thomas Di Lorenzo's contract for interior decoration amounted to $59,074.00. Joe (Corrado) Parducci worked in the New York firm of Ricci, Ardolino and Di Lorenzo as a very young man. When the firm broke up, he stayed with DiLorenzo who was an ornamentalist and Parducci was the sculptor. Parducci met Albert Kahn in New York City who urged him to come to Detroit and work on two bank buildings on Griswold Street. Parducci came to Detroit to work for only a couple of months. Anthony DiLorenzo had some work here and Kahn wanted Parducci. He worked indirectly for Kahn through DiLorenzo. Other work came from Detroit architects Donaldson & Meier, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, and George D. Mason.[1]

The first 8 months, 1924 to middle of 1925, Parducci worked under DiLorenzo. The Masonic Temple contracts were DiLorenzos' jobs until Parducci bought them out for $5,000.00.

Parducci's lobby design was reportedly adapted from an old castle in Palermo, Sicily. Parducci did model the 5' bronze floor plaque depicting Strength, Truth and Beauty. He sculpted the two plaques in the stone walls of the interior stairs of the Scottish Rite entrance. These two are repeated in the lobby as plaster plaques.

List of buildings containing Parducci's art

Shrine of the Holy Innocents
  • Ann Arbor News Building, 1936
  • Trinity Lutheran Church
  • Charles T. Fisher Residence
  • Alfred J. Fisher Residence
  • William A. Fisher Residence
  • Frank Couzens Residence
  • Stewart-Warner Speedometer Corporation Building
  • Kresge Building
  • Springwells Water Treatment Plant
  • Hudson Motor Car Factory (Demolished)
  • St. Aloysius Church
  • St. John's Seminary, now The Inn At St. Johns
  • University of Detroit Mercy
  • Standard Club of Chicago
  • Second National Bank of Saginaw
  • Kalamazoo Gazette Building, Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • Kalamazoo County Building, Kalamazoo
  • Midland Theater (Demolished 1998) recast in bronze and relocated to Ned S. Arbury Centennial Park (1942) Midland, Michigan

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Barrie, Dennis (March 17, 1975).Corrado Parducci interview. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved on July 24, 2009.
  2. ↑ Foot, Andrew (June 29, 2006).International Metropolis Archived November 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Diehl & Diehl Archives, photo inside Corrado Parducci's studio. Retrieved on July 24, 2009.

Further reading

  • Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Shadowing Parducci, unpublished manuscript
  • Godzak, Roman (2004). Catholic Churches in Detroit (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3235-5.
  • Savage, Rebecca Binno and Greg Kowalski (2004). Art Deco in Detroit (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3228-2.
  • Sobocinski, Melanie Grunow (2005). Detroit and Rome: building on the past. Regents of the University of Michigan. ISBN 0-933691-09-2.
  • Tottis, James W. (2008). The Guardian Building: Cathedral of Finance. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-3385-3.
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