Congregation Shaarey Zedek

If you’ve ever driven Northwestern Highway and clocked the dramatic, tent-like building rising off the bluff — the one that looks like it might take off — that’s Congregation Shaarey Zedek, and it’s one of the great pieces of modern architecture in metro Detroit. Completed in 1962 to a design by Percival Goodman (the era’s foremost synagogue architect), its soaring, diamond-plan sanctuary reads as a mountain, a ship’s prow, or a pair of clasped hands depending on the light; a steep metal roof appears to float above a band of stained glass, and inside, a towering Ark and eternal flame anchor a space built to expand for the High Holy Days. The San Francisco Examiner once named it one of the ten most breathtaking places of worship in the country, and design pilgrims make the trip. It’s exactly the mid-century-modern legacy that Southfield quietly holds more of than anywhere else around. It’s an active synagogue, so it’s best appreciated from the roadside or during public events and services — go respectfully, and look up. On our list as Southfield’s most stunning building.