The Lawyers Club, 1925
William W. Cook announced, in 1922, that he would give money to the Law School to build a Lawyers Club. The news made the New York Times top and center, of the Sunday September 21, 1924 paper.
The Lawyers Club and Dormitory was begun in 1923 and completed (students started living in it) in Fall 1924. It was dedicated in the Spring/Summer of 1925. The Times also covered, less conspicuously, this opening. The Lawyers Club and Dormitory consists of the building running along State Street (kitchen, dining room, faculty dining room, and lounge). The Dormitory portion is what now runs along South University Avenue, East from the Lawyers Club to Tappan Avenue.
Lawyers Club under construction July 6, 1924. This is taken from South University and shows the building east of the main tower.
The Times coverage of the dedication noted Cook’s recommendation that two more dorms, a library and a law school building should come next. The Lawyers Club as it looked shortly after completion in 1925. The Dining Room at the right, and the dorm wings connected to the Dining Room, are the only buildings on what became the Law Quadrangle. Note the building in what would become the center of the Law Quadrangle; it’s an apartment building that would soon be demolished. At the far right of the Dining Room you can see part of another building that would have to be moved to build Hutchins Hall. The building was relocated to the southwest corner of Monroe and State.
View of Lawyers Club looking east on South University from near the corner of South State Street. The bay window closest to the camera is in the Lawyers Club lounge.
This is the cloister that connects the Law Quadrangle to South University at the northwest corner of the Quad. This lovely space is popular for photo-shoots of all kinds. This photo was taken soon after the building was completed, perhaps 1928. Note the absence of landscaping. Later, yew hedges were added, as well as trees.
This is a fairly recent photo of the South University façade looking east. The globe style street lights were added during Lee Bollinger’s term as President of the University of Michigan, 1996-2002. |