Minoru Yamasaki Papers [UP002108]

The papers of Minoru Yamasaki include correspondence regarding projects, travel, communications with peers and associates, magazine exposure, invitations to speak, and his involvement with professional organizations. Early architectural drawings, speeches and writings, photographs, awards and doctoral degrees, scrapbooks detailing the progress of his career, and various publications are also included. 

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers may use these files during normal Reading Room hours. 

Campus Building Vertical Files [WSR002673]

Interested in a particular building? Visit the Reading Room at the Reuther Library and look into the Campus Building Vertical Files. The files include newspaper clippings, articles, pamphlets, public relations materials, and other ephemera related to the Wayne State University's individual buildings, past and present.

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers may use these files during normal Reading Room hours. 

Wayne State University Photograph Collection [WSAV002643]

Images included in this collection depict the activities, events, and places on or around the university's Detroit campus. The built environment and physical growth of campus is particularly well documented, with files available for most of the University's buildings showing exterior and/or interior views. 1225 of these architecturally-focused images are available through Wayne State University Library System's Digital Collections.

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers must make an appointment with the Audiovisual Department to view physical records: reutherreference@wayne.edu

Image: General view of the proposed Campus plan for Wayne University, August 1950. Wayne State University Photograph Collection # 30125.

Preservation Wayne Records [WSR000604]

The Preservation Wayne Records document the origins, activities, and preservation efforts of Preservation Wayne (now known as Preservation Detroit), with particular emphasis on the campaign to save and restore Mackenzie House. Of particular note is Series 6: Visual Materials, which contains architectural drawings of residential buildings that were used to house classrooms and departments during the postwar years, samples of original paint and wallpaper related to the renovation of the David Mackenzie House, and index cards from the 1976 Detroit Urban Conservation Project that detail the businesses and residences located near Wayne State University's main campus area. 

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers may use these files during normal Reading Room hours. 

Wayne State University Architectural Drawings Collection [WSR002490]

The collection consists of blueprints and other architectural drawings of buildings currently or previously owned by Wayne State University. The majority of drawings in this collection depict buildings no longer owned by the University, due to demolition or sale.

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers may use these files during normal Reading Room hours. 

Central High School Records [WSR001832]

Interested in seeing what Old Main looked like when it was first built? Check out the Central High School Records for a souvenir booklet from the opening ceremony and early Central High yearbooks.

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers may use these files during normal Reading Room hours. 

Wayne State University Office for Information Services Records [WSR000169]

The Office for Information Services Records includes material that was used to promote campus activities, including press releases and clippings. Of particular interest is Series IV: Photographs, which includes interiors and exteriors views of university buildings, duplications of architectural drawings and models, aerial views of campus, and images of historic residential and school buildings in the area.

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers may use these files during normal Reading Room hours. 

Image: A nighttime view into the classrooms of State Hall, March 1958. Wayne State University Office for Information Services Records Box 14, Folder 31.

Wayne State University School of Medicine Photographs [WSAV002718]

The Wayne State University School of Medicine Photographs consist of photograph prints and negatives of Wayne State University School of Medicine staff, students, and buildings. Building photographs include construction photographs, aerials, interiors and exteriors, and panoramic views of the Medical School campus. 

This collection is housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Researchers must make an appointment with the Audiovisual Department to view physical records: reutherreference@wayne.edu

Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986)

Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986) was a first-generation Japanese American architect born in Seattle, Washington. Yamasaki arrived in Detroit in 1945 and remained based in Southeastern Michigan until his death in 1986. His firm Yamasaki & Associates became known internationally for its graceful approach to modernism and developed dozens of buildings throughout the world, including the World Trade Center. He designed four buildings on campus between 1957-1964: McGregor Memorial Conference Center (1958), The College of Education Building (1960), the Meyer and Anna Prentis Building (1964) and the Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium (1964). During this time, Yamasaki also created a campus plan for Wayne State that would allow for the campus to grow dramatically while closing streets and creating "an island of urban delight” with an abundance of tree-line malls, courtyards and public art installations. 

Image: Minoru Yamasaki with his model of Wayne State University's College of Education Building, April 1958. Detroit News Collection # 22858

Suren Pilafian (1910-1988)

Suren Pilafian (1910-1988) was born in Turkey to an Armenian family, and emigrated to the United States as an infant. His early career saw him involved with Cass Gilbert, Norman Bel Geddes. In 1942, Pilafian won a competition to create Wayne University’s master campus plan. The buildings associated with this plan paid deference to the Bauhaus School in their modernist design and helped shape an impressive mid-century architectural legacy for the university. As Wayne University’s first campus architect, Pilafian oversaw the construction of State Hall (1948) and its addition (1957), the College of Engineering (1949), the General Library (1954), and the Kresge Science Library (1963). Pilafian’s final and largest project on campus was the creation of the Community Arts complex. Completed in phases between 1955 and 1959, it consists of a series of four interconnected buildings: the Music Building, Art Building, Alumni House, and the Community Arts Center. In his later career he would serve as principal designer for Albert Kahn Associates.

Image: Portrait of Suren Pilafian, undated. Detroit News Collection # 25615.

Albert Kahn (1869-1942)

Born in Prussia in 1869, Albert Kahn arrived in Detroit in 1881, and the city has not been the same since. After attending Detroit Public Schools, he trained with the architectural firm of Mason and Rice, then started his own firm. He is best known in Detroit for his prolific work designing residential, commercial, educational, and industrial buildings, including icons such as the Packard Plant (1903), the Fisher Building, the Belle Isle Aquarium, and the General Motors Building (1922), and many of the homes in Indian Village. His industrial work was incredibly influential and was credited by the architect Le Corbusier as being the foundation for the creation of the International Style. Though his firm only designed one building for Wayne State specifically (Life Science Building, 1959), the university acquired and restored numerous Kahn buildings as it expanded campus, including the former Temple Beth El (1902), Public Safety Building (1924), WSU Services Building 5454 Cass Avenue (1929) Maccabees Building (1927), and the new Biosciences Center (1927, extensive additions 2015).  

Albert Kahn Image: Albert Kahn at drafting table, February 1931. Detroit News Collection # 17483_1.

Michigan Modern: Design That Shaped America

Includes nearly thirty essays and interviews from a number of prominent architects, academics, architectural historians, journalists, and designers describe Michigan's contributions to Modern design in architecture, automobiles, furniture and education. Wayne State's Yamasaki buildings are discussed at length.

Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity

With source material drawn from Yamasaki's autobiographical writings, architects who worked with Yamasaki in his firm, and photography from several historic archives, Yamasaki in Detroit highlights the life if the architect and select projects spanning from the late 1940s to the end of Yamasaki's life.

Building the Modern World: Albert Kahn in Detroit

A biography of one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, this book examines Albert Kahn's life and the many buildings he created in Detroit.

AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture

AIA Detroit is the definitive guide to Detroit architecture. The Midtown section of the book details buildings located in Wayne State's main campus and the Medical Center.

The Buildings of Detroit

First published in 1968, The Buildings of Detroit: A History by W. Hawkins Ferry is the definitive resource on the architecture of Detroit and its adjacent communities, from pioneering times to the midcentury.

A History of Wayne State University in Photographs

Evelyn Aschenbrenner's detailed look into the history of Wayne State University includes a wealth of information on individual buildings and tracks the development of campus as it expanded into the surrounding neighborhoods. Much of her research was conducted within the collections of the University Archives.

Minoru Yamasaki and the Fragility of Architecture

Beautifully illustrated with over 100 color illustrations of Yamasaki’s buildings, this book will be of interest to students, academics and professionals in a range of disciplines, including architectural history, architectural theory, architectural preservation, and urban design and planning.

Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery Building

Woodward Avenue at St. Martin’s Place, 1864

In 1864, Harper Hospital was established as a military hospital to serve soldiers injured during the Civil War. These barrack-style buildings, located near the corner of Woodward and St. Martin’s Place (the area around Alexandrine Street) would become the birthplace of Wayne State University. In 1868 the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery formed and ran its first classes out of the two northwest buildings on the Harper Campus. The College quickly outgrew its space, eventually moving to a larger building on St. Antoine and Mullett Streets. The barracks were razed in 1884.

Image: Original Detroit Medical College building, incorporating portions of the first Harper Hospital (see as the barracks on the right and left of the tower), c. 1880. Harper Hospital Photographs # 8960

Old Main

Malcomson and Higginbotham, 1896.

Wayne State's most iconic building, Old Main, began its life as a public high school. Built between 1894-1896 by the architectural film Malcolmson and Higgenbottom, it served as Central High School and expanded to include the newly formed Detroit Junior College in 1917. Central soon outgrew the space, and the building was turned over to the City College of Detroit, whose six colleges would merge in 1934 to create Wayne University. Space has always been in high demand in Old Main -- it's first addition was planned in 1908 -- and additions were made throughout the years that expanded the original footprint significantly. These included a wing along Warren Avenue built by the W.P.A. in 1937, an addition for the College of Engineering built on the on the southwest corner of Second Avenue in 1941, and the completion of the Elaine Jacobs Gallery wing in 1994, which created space for galleries, recital areas, and the planetarium. 

Image: Exterior aerial image of Old Main looking toward the southwest. The area of brightly colored brick shows the addition made by the W.P.A. in the 1930s.

The Neighborhood University

Various City Blocks

Completed: c. 1880s-1920s; Architect: Various

At the turn of the century, the area surrounding Wayne State's campus was one of the more desirable locations for homes in the city and was filled with spacious, elegant houses built by Detroit's burgeoning upper middle class. Such homes were difficult to maintain, and many became rentals during the Great Depression. The Detroit Board of Education rented and later bought  homes along a number of these streets, primarily Warren, Second, and Cass Avenues, and Merrick and Putnam Streets. The homes and their garages were used for classrooms, studios, organizations, and departmental office space. 

Image: Cass Avenue, looking North from Warren with views of Art Education, Science Building (under construction), Veteran's Administration, and  the Sociology Department, c. 1947. Wayne State University Photographs Collection # 25598

Barracks Classrooms

U.S. Government Issue, 1940s

A surge in enrollment after the Second World War forced Wayne to think of non-traditional alternatives for classroom space. One solution came in the form of “temporaries,” classrooms housed in surplus army barracks. The 19 barracks were located next to Old Main on the corner of Warren and Second Avenues and on the site of the current Life Sciences Building. The construction of State Hall and the acquisition of more neighborhood buildings quickly led to their obsolescence. The last of the barracks was taken down in 1958.

Image: Barracks type housing located at the corner of Warren and Second, behind Old Main, c. 1950s. Wayne State University Photographs Collection # 24913

State Hall

5182 Cass Avenue

Completed: 1946-1948; Architect: Suren Pilafian

State Hall was the first building created specifically for Wayne University. The original building housed twenty-five classrooms and four lecture halls; additions throughout the years have substantially increased the footprint. It was designed as a flexible space, with soundproof partitions between rooms that could be removed as the building’s needs changed. State Hall created a comfortable, spacious environment for students who had long suffered through crowded, substandard conditions. Each classroom had access to windows, giving the students an abundance of natural light and the chance to catch a breeze in the days before air conditioning. The building was recently modernized through an extensive renovation project.

Image: Aerial view of the State Hall showing new addition, April 1962. Detroit News Collection # 71869_1

Engineering Building

5050 Anthony Wayne Drive

Completed: 1949; Architect: Suren Pilafian

The Engineering Building was a welcome addition to campus in 1949. It was initially built to house the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Departments, as well as laboratories for Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Engineering Drawing. The building was the first component in a four-part series that would form an Engineering Center to bring all of the college’s elements, many of which were housed in Old Main, together.

Image: Exterior view of the Engineering Building, June 1966. Wayne State University Photographs Collection # 25588

Kresge Science Library

5265 Cass Ave 

Completed: 1953; Architect: Suren Pilafian

The Kresge Science Library was the first building on campus to be constructed through private philanthropy. It was named after Sebastian S. Kresge, the founder of the S.S. Kresge (later K-Mart) chain, whose foundation had donated over one million dollars to the university for building construction and medical research. The library was created to house the Kresge-Hooker scientific collection, one of the largest chemical libraries in the world at that time, as well as other related scientific journals and books. It was designed and built in tandem with the General Library (Flint J. Purdy Library) which housed four divisions of research: Humanities, Social Studies, Education, and Law. Prior to this, all of the libraries were scattered throughout various spaces in Old Main.

Image: Front entrance of the Kresge Science Library, Circa 1960s. Wayne State University Photograph Collection # 25843.

Bonstelle Theatre (Temple Beth El)

3424 Woodward Avenue

Completed: 1903; Architect: Albert Kahn, renovations C. Howard Crane

The Bonstelle Theatre building served as a space for community to gather for over 100 years. Built in 1903 by beloved Detroit architect Albert Kahn, it served Detroit's Jewish community as Temple Beth El until 1922. Shortly after, it was remodeled by Howard C. Crane and turned into the Bonstelle Playhouse, changing names in 1928 to become the Detroit Civic Theater. From the 1930s to the early 1950s, it served as the Mayfair Theater, a second-run movie house. Wayne State purchased the building in 1956 and named it Bonstelle Theatre after Jessie Bonstelle, the actor/director who founded the Detroit Civic Theatre. The Theatre was leased to developers in 2019 and is being renovated as part of a new hotel complex.

Image: Exterior view of Wayne University Theatre, late 1950s. Wayne State University Photograph Collection # 11471.

McGregor Memorial Conference Center

495 Gilmour Mall

Completed: 1958; Architect: Minoru Yamasaki

Arguably, McGregor Memorial Conference Center is one of Detroit’s most beautiful mid-century buildings. McGregor was the first building Yamasaki designed after developing a new architectural philosophy that looked to create buildings that invoked serenity and calm in modern urban spaces. The building was completed in 1958 with great acclaim from the architectural world and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2015. A key component of the building is its relationship with the natural world outside, which includes a reflecting pool, sculpture garden and angled skylights that bounce light off the marble interior.  The reflecting pool underwent a two-year, $1,200,000 restoration project in 2011 and reopened in the spring of 2013.

Image: Exterior view of the McGregor Memorial Conference Center and its floating gardens, 1958. Wayne State University Building Collection # 25937

The Meyer and Anna Prentis Building and the Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium

5201 and 5203 Cass Avenue

Completed: 1962-1964; Architect: Minoru Yamasaki

The Meyer and Anna Prentis Building and the Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium were both created to serve the School of Business and designed to exist in harmony with one another in both form and function. They are joined together physically by an underground tunnel and visually through a large opening in the outdoor arcade. During its early years, the auditorium was surrounded by a three-foot deep reflecting pool that lent impression of a building floating on water. An extensive renovation project to restore the reflecting pools was started in 2024.

Image: A view of the Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium and Meyer and Anna Prentis Building that shows the reflecting pool and bridge, May 19, 1964. Wayne State University Photograph Collection # 26474.

Merrill Palmer Institute (Charles Lang Freer House)

71 E. Ferry Street

Completed: 1892; Architect: Wilson Eyre

Like many buildings in the East Ferry Avenue Historic District, the Charles Lang Freer House has a rich history of expansion, adaption, and reuse. It was built in 1892 for Charles Lang Freer, a wealthy industrialist and leader in Detroit’s art community. It was subsequently expanded several times within the next 20 years to house Freer’s growing art collection, which was later sent to Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., creating the Freer Gallery of Art. The building became the home of the Merrill Palmer Institute in 1920 through a bequest by Lizzie Merrill Palmer and has served in that capacity since. It became part of Wayne State University in 1980 when the institute and its Early Childhood Center were incorporated into the university. Freer House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1970.

Image: Exterior view of the Merrill Palmer Institute, 1956. Harper Hospital Photographs # 10623

The Block on Cass Park (S.S. Kresge World Headquarters)

2727 Second Avenue

Completed: 1927; Architect: Albert Kahn and Associates

This building, located at Second and Temple, first served as the S.S. Kresge World Headquarters. Unusual for its time, the elegant Art Deco structure spun the concept of a skyscraper office building on its side, building outwards rather than up, resulting in 250,000 square feet that span an entire city block. It has served in a number of capacities since S.S. Kresge moved out in 1972, mainly as a technology hub and office space for Wayne State. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1979.

Student Center Building / MacKenzie Hall (Hotel Webster Hall)

Cass Avenue at Putnam

Completed; 1925; Architect: H. Augustus O'Dell

The building has had a number of different names throughout its life, but originated as one of the swankiest addresses in town: the Hotel Webster Hall, an 800-room luxury residence for men. Hosting architectural decoration by Corrado Parducci, a 100,000 gallon pool, a ballroom, and a renowned dining room, it was bought by Wayne State in 1946 and became the Student Center Building. For nearly 50 years, MacKenzie Hall was an integral part of Wayne’s campus: besides being a place for students to relax, study, or visit the cafeteria, it also served as dormitories, the home for athletic teams and student organizations, faculty offices, and offices for the university president and his staff. The building was renamed MacKenzie Hall in 1961, after Wayne’s first president, David MacKenzie and demolished in 1991.

Image: Exterior view of David Mackenzie Hall, August 7, 1961. Wayne State University Photographs Collection # 25912

Alternate design for Student Center, March 9, 1943

Architect Suren Pilafian shows a model of the proposed Wayne University Student Center to Wayne Dr. David D. Henry, March 9, 1943. Instead of building new, the university decided to use the nearby Webster Hotel (Webster Hall / Mackenzie Hall) as their first student center and dormitory. 

Image: Detroit News Collection # 27713_8.

School of Business Administration, 1950s

An earlier concept for the School of Business Administration was very similar to that of State Hall. The building that would be constructed in 1962, the Meyer and Anna Prentis Building, took a decidedly different approach. That building housed The School of Business made its home there until 2018, when it moved to the newly completed Mike Ilitch School of Business Building in the Arena District.

Image: Architectural rendering of School of Business Administration Building, 1940s-1950s. Wayne State University Photograph Collection # 24926.

Wayne State Labor History Archives, 1966

The original design for the Walter P. Reuther Library involved a three story building constructed of limestone, pre-cast concrete and granite. 

Image: Architectural model of Wayne State University's Labor History Archives, 1966. Wayne State University Photograph Collection # 24909.

Shapero Hall, undated

An alternate design for the School of Pharmacy's Shapero Hall harmonized with its proposed neighbor, the College of Education Building. The Glen Paulsen-designed building that would open in its place in 1965 was dramatically different.

Image: Architectural renderings of Shapero Hall, undated. Wayne State University Information Service Records Box 13, Folder 2.

Vera P. Shiffman Medical Library, undated

An alternate design for planned for the Vera P. Shiffman Medical Library.

Image: Untitled drawing. Wayne State University Information Service Records, Box 13, Folder 2.

Wayne State University Bookstore, undated

Wayne State's bookstore had a long presence on the corner of Cass and Warren, before it moved to where the David Adamany Library currently stands. The bookstore that was built there was similar in style to this drawing, with slight changes made to the exterior design and windows. 

Image: Untitled drawing. Wayne State University Information Service Records, Box 13, Folder 1

"Ideal Design" for Monteith College, undated

Monteith College was an experimental college founded in 1959 and closed in 1981. It was housed in three Edwardian houses near the Library Mall, however, at one point plans were drawn up for this "Ideal Design" (written on verso).

Image: Untitled drawing. Wayne State University Information Service Records, Box 13, Folder 2

Alternate design for Reuther Mall, 1970s

Like campus buildings, plans for exterior spaces also went through multiple drafts before their final design was chosen. This drawing of the Reuther Mall near Cass Avenue shows a more open area, with less seating and different public art. 

Image: Untitled drawing. Wayne State University Information Service Records, Box 13, Folder 2

University Center Lounge, undated

This rendering shows a proposed main reception lounge for the University Center (now Student Center Building). The design included a fireplace, a unique element for a modern build.

Image: Untitled drawing. Wayne State University Information Service Records, Box 13, Folder 2

Unnamed building, Warren and Cass

This unidentified building was intended to be built on the northeast corner of Warren and Cass Avenues, where the bookstore is currently located. The original student center building, Mackenzie Hall, can be seen in the background.

Image: Untitled drawing. Wayne State University Information Service Records, Box 13, Folder 1