Frieze Building Blog

Frieze Building closer to demolition
Structure's namesake will be remembered in some other way, U-M official says
Saturday, September 23, 2006
BY DAVE GERSHMAN
News Staff Reporter
The Frieze Building is one step closer to demolition, which is expected to begin early next year.

The University of Michigan Board of Regents on Friday approved spending $8.5 million to remove asbestos from the building, which will then be torn down. Regents unanimously approved the project without discussion.

The Frieze Building's fate was sealed in January 2005 when regents approved constructing a combined residence hall and academic building in its place on a city block near the edge of campus.

Timothy Slottow, an executive vice president and chief financial officer at U-M, said the building's namesake - Henry Frieze - will still be remembered in some other way. Frieze served as interim university president in 1870, the year women were first admitted to the university.

"I want to make it clear, based on our earlier discussions, that we do recognize the need to preserve the Frieze name,'' Slottow told the regents.

Regents Chairwoman Olivia Maynard, a Democrat from Goodrich, said after the meeting that the university may consider how to designate the building's significance as a former high school.

The building was Ann Arbor High School until it was bought by U-M in 1956. The original Beaux Arts style portion of the building was finished in 1907.

Historic preservationists and some graduates of the former Ann Arbor High School had mounted a campaign to preserve the building when plans of its demolition were announced.

The Frieze Building will be replaced with a $137 million combined residence hall and academic complex called North Quad. The site is bordered by Huron Avenue on the north, State Street on the west and Washington Street on the south.

U-M has hired a second architectural company, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, to act as lead designer and revamp schematic designs for the complex. New designs are in progress.

The opening of the new complex has been delayed by a year to fall 2010, and the price tag is expected to rise. U-M has pledged to save the Carnegie Library, which is attached to the Frieze Building, and will incorporate the library in the North Quad design.

As part of the demolition, the contractor chosen for the job will have to shore up the walls of the Carnegie Library, said Diane Brown, a U-M spokeswoman.

Reporter Dave Gershman can be reached at 734-994-6818 or dgershman@annarbornews.com.