[2] Kahn led an organization of hundreds of architect associates, and in 1937 designed 19% of all architect-designed industrial factories in the United States.

They also had two sisters,[5] one of whom, Mollie Kahn Fuchs, who later worked closely with Julius to create a type of reinforced concrete that would later be patented.

In 1891, at age 22, Kahn won a Rotch Traveling Fellowship to study in Europe, where he toured Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium with fellow student Henry Bacon, who later designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.[5][7] Kahn married Ernestine Krolik in 1896 and they had four children.

[8] Ernestine would later briefly serve as a vice president in her husband's business, and often helped him with color and fabric selection in designs.

By 1905, hundreds of buildings within the United States were being constructed using the Kahn System, including the first reinforced concrete automobile plant, completed for the Cadillac Motor Car Company at 450 Amsterdam Street in TechTown, Detroit.

[12] Kahn was also responsible for designing many of the buildings and houses built under the direction of the Hiram Walker family in Walkerville, Ontario, including Willistead Manor.

[16][17] Kahn also designed many of what are considered the classic buildings of the University of Michigan in the city of Ann Arbor.

During World War II, Kahn and his firm were in charge of several of the U.S. government's important construction projects that included aeronautical and tank arsenal plants.

Kahn designed showrooms for Ford Motor Company in several cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston.

Cass Technical High School in Detroit, designed by Malcomson and Higginbotham and built by Kahn's firm in 1922, was demolished in 2011, after vandals had stripped it of most of its fixtures.

On January 9, 1930, a second contract with Kahn was signed for his firm to become consulting architects for all industrial construction in the Soviet Union.

[8] Many of his personal working papers and construction photographs are housed at University of Michigan's Bentley History Library.

[42] The life and works of Kahn were celebrated in an exhibition of photographs, drawings, and models at the Detroit Institute of Arts from September 15 to November 1, 1970.

[44] A staff writer for the Times Herald newspaper in 1970 wrote that Kahn was often called the father of industrial architecture.

The science museum Franklin Institute in Philadelphia recognized him as an architectural pioneer and awarded him their gold medal.

The staff writer estimated that Kahn was the architect of two billion dollars worth of structures before his death in 1942.