University of Michigan School of Dentistry Building

People: Smith, Hinchman & Grylls

Date: 1971

City: Ann Arbor

Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, photo by Rob Yallop.

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is located on North University Avenue on the university’s central campus, east of downtown Ann Arbor. The School of Dentistry encompasses a complex of four interconnected buildings joined to the north by a parking garage. The facility includes the addition to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Institute building (Unit A), the Dental Clinics Building (Unit B), the Administration and Research tower (Unit C), and the Library (Unit D). The existing structure replaced an older building that originally stood where the elevated library and courtyard are currently. The various components of the facility are united visually by the use of brown brick cladding for all of the buildings. A cross axis arrangement is created by the strong horizontal emphasis of the elevated library and the adjacent Administration and Research tower. The library is raised on a grid of columns allowing users to pass under the building to enter the central open courtyard. From the courtyard, stairs lead to the entrances of the various buildings. A metal sculpture donated by the graduating class of 1944 is located in the center of the courtyard. The building shares some similarities of form and detailing with the Institute for Science and Technology building (1963) on north campus, also by Smith, Hinchman and Grylls.

Planning for the expansion of the dental school facilities began in the early 1950s as forecasts were predicting future shortages of dental personnel to serve the growing population of the state and the nation. Fundraising for the project spanned over ten years until a combination of state appropriations, federal grants and private gifts provided enough capital for the project to move forward. In 1963 the firm of Smith, Hinchman and Grylls was selected to design the new facilities. The proposed project included both improvements to the the existing W. K. Kellogg Foundation Institute Building and the construction of a new teaching and research building.

At the time of its construction the University of Michigan’s new School of Dentistry was the largest single project undertaken by the university up until that time. The over $17 million complex would allow an overall 50 percent enrollment increase for dental students and double the number of spots available for dental hygienists.

Construction began in February 1966 with A. Z. Shmina and Sons Company of Dearborn serving as general contractors. Construction of the facility was phased to minimize disruptions and permit classes to continue throughout the construction process. The Clinical and Research structures were built first followed by the Kellogg addition and library. Renovation of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Institute building was completed by the Henry DeKoning Construction Company of Ann Arbor. The parking garage built to the north of the new complex was a separate but concurrent project. Praised as one of the outstanding dental education facilities in the world, The University of Michigan School of Dentistry complex was dedicated on October 18, 1971, after five years of construction.