In the 1920s, Detroit was one of the richest cities in the US. Henry Ford had offered unskilled labourers twice the wages they could have got elsewhere and the population had jumped from 400000 before the First World War to 1.4 million by 1930. Along with all these riches came ostentatious building. We went on a tour organised by the Detroit History Club of three of the outstanding examples – the Central Station, the Guardian Building and the Fisher Building.

The Central Station was built by the Vanderbilts (who owned the major local rail company) when the local economy outgrew the original station. Other rail companies had to pay to use it. It was the tallest railway station in the world. It closed as a railway station in the 1980s, the tracks were taken up and it stood as a vandalised monument in the middle of nowhere. I remember seeing it in the 1990s.

In the last few years it has been bought and expensively restored by the Ford Motor Company who have offices in the building. Soon there will be a hotel – although no railway so far. Most of the interior fittings were either sold off or stolen but one or two have been returned. The clock that was originally on the stable block was recovered after a mystery phone call telling the restorers that they would find something against a burnt out building several miles away if they sent two men and a truck to reclaim it.

The next stop on the tour (after pause for coffee and donuts – gotta love America!) was the Guardian Building. This was built in 1927 by the Union Bank – giving their architect carte blanche. It was built in a neo-Aztec style. Apparently, following the First World War, there was a backlash against all things European so designers were looking around for other sources of inspiration.

The Michigan residents on the tour were wondering why they had never heard of the Union Bank if they were so rich and successful. This building was completed in April 1929 and the Wall St crash happened six months later – and the bank went under. Hubris.

The Fisher Building. This was also built in the late 1920s by the Fisher brothers. Their family were successful carriage builders in Ohio before the First World War when the car industry was getting up to speed in Detroit. They moved to Michigan and set up a business making car bodies and other parts for cars, particularly Cadillacs. When General Motors, who owned Cadillac, got tired of them making stuff for their rivals, they bought them out and absorbed the company into GM. However, the Fishers made it a stipulation that all their car bodies should have a notice saying that they were Fisher car bodies. They then used their wealth to build this building, designed to be a resource for the city. It had offices, shops and a Mayan jungle cinema – complete with tropical plants and birds of paradise. The cinema was unfortunately gutted in 1961 – age of philistines.