The Guardian Building opened on April 2, 1929 as the Union Trust Building, an Art Deco tower built between 1928 and 1929 at the height of confidence. Within months the crash came, and the Union Trust Company did not survive it. The building did, and it has been admired continuously ever since by people who have no idea what happened to its bank.
What outlasted what
The institution was the point and the building was supposed to be its expression. The institution lasted a matter of months after opening; the expression is approaching a century. That is a reversal worth sitting with.
The version of this in a wardrobe
Men buy clothes for a life they expect to have, and the life changes: the job ends, the role shifts, the plan doesn’t happen. What survives all of that is anything bought well and plainly enough to be useful in a life you didn’t predict.
Which is an argument against specialising
One excellent navy suit works in every version of the next ten years. A wardrobe assembled for a specific future is a wardrobe with a Union Trust problem.
Also for Detroit: A Glass Skylight, Thirteen Floors Up. More on style consulting, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
