The Architecture Program / History
Courses in architecture were first offered at the University of Michigan in 1876 by William Le Baron Jenney. Architecture was recognized as a formal course of study in 1906 when a program was established in the department of engineering with Emil Lorch as chair. Under his leadership, the program grew steadily in size and stature and, in 1913, the University granted the program departmental status and full control of its curriculum. Lorch continued to shape the program and, in 1923, was instrumental in bringing Eliel Saarinen from Finland to teach at Michigan. In 1931, the College of Architecture was established as a separate entity with 370 students and 27 faculty members.
Wells Bennett succeeded Emil Lorch as director of the college in 1937 and became dean a year later. In 1939, the college’s name was changed to the College of Architecture and Design. In the mid-1940s, Michigan was one of the few schools that considered research to be a necessary element of architectural education. By founding the Architecture Research Laboratory in 1948, the college took a pioneering step in integrating design, construction, technology, planning, and research. A graduate program in urban planning—which awarded a master of city planning degree—was introduced in 1946. This program was one of the first of its kind in the country.
Visual arts courses, originally offered to advance the training of architects, began attracting students from other fields, leading to the creation of separate departments of art and architecture in 1954. The college housed these two departments, along with the smaller department of landscape architecture, for the next decade. In 1967, Michigan became the first American school to offer a doctorate degree in architecture; the introduction of the doctoral program was a natural development due to the history of architectural research at the college.
As the college continued to grow, proposals were developed to provide new facilities and, as part of the planning process, the educational and administrative structure of the college was reassessed leading to the creation of two new schools in 1974, the College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the School of Art & Design. Two new programs, architecture and urban planning, replaced the former departments. At the same time, the research mission of the college was broadened and the Architecture Research Laboratory was reconstituted as the Architecture + Planning Research Laboratory. The new Art and Architecture Building, housing the College of Architecture and Urban Planning together with the School of Art & Design, opened for classes in 1974 on UM’s North Campus.
In 1999, the College of Architecture and Urban Planning received what was then the largest gift ever given to a school of architecture from A. Alfred Taubman, who gave the college $30 million. The college was renamed A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
