The 'Industrial Versailles' in Warren

Warren holds one of architect Eero Saarinen’s most important works, according to the National Park Service’s landmark study. The original GM Technical Center paired low glass-and-steel buildings with reflecting pools, sculpture, bright glazed brick, and a man-made lake. The National Historic Landmark boundary covers roughly 400 acres. GM says today’s working campus has grown to 710 acres.

The project began while Saarinen was working with his father, Eliel. After Eliel died in 1950, Eero led the final design. The National Park Service says the Tech Center marked Eero’s emergence as an architect independent of his father. That is more precise than calling it the first major project he designed entirely on his own.

About 5,000 people gathered on the campus for its May 16, 1956, dedication. President Dwight Eisenhower took part, but he was not standing in Warren: he delivered his address from the White House over closed-circuit television. The NPS nomination says Architectural Forum called the finished complex an “Industrial Versailles.”

The campus did not invent the corporate research campus. Earlier examples already existed. What the Tech Center did was set an influential new standard for a coordinated, park-like workplace; the NPS describes it as the first of four Saarinen corporate campuses that helped shape later design. It became a National Historic Landmark in 2014.

This is still a working GM site, not a museum. GM describes it as a center for design, engineering, and advanced technology, including the 180-foot Design Dome. Admire what you can see from the perimeter and treat the gates like the entrance to any other private workplace.