During a 1949 visit to Detroit, illustrator Saul Steinberg was a guest in the home of Susan and Alexander Girard, which he described as “an architect’s own dream house.” Indeed, while Girard is best known for his boldly colored and patterned textiles, his architectural training was the foundation for every aspect of his career. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Girard’s independent residential architectural projects – particularly those designed at midcentury in Michigan – represent the most cohesive expression of his design mastery.

Between the years 1947-51, Girard designed private residences for his own and the Jackson, McLucas, and Rieveschl families in the ultra-traditional Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, MI. Featuring wood and glass structures, open floor plans, multi-level spaces, custom-designed furniture, and bold color accents, Girard’s homes departed dramatically from their historically-inspired neighbors. Some have even questioned how Girard convinced his conservative clients to accept such “radical” domestic designs.

Nevertheless, Steinberg’s descriptor “dream house” can be equally applied to Girard’s other Grosse Pointe homes, which embodied not only Girard’s core design principles but also the aspirations – practical and aesthetic — of his clients. Sadly, only one of the houses designed entirely by Girard – the McLucas house – survives intact. However, Girard’s evolving design for each residence, documented in drawings, blueprints and photographs (some never seen before), demonstrate the architect’s expansive conception of architecture, integrating site, structure and interior into a cohesive whole. They also reveal Girard’s skill in addressing his clients’ needs, with the goal of enhancing life in the modern world.