State St. and South University Ave.
Michigan’s prestigious law school is housed in the Law Quadrangle, one of the most beautiful educational buildings in Michigan. It is built in a Tudor-Gothic style and was designed by New York architects York and Sawyer to resemble both Cambridge and Oxford. The quadrangle is made up of four buildings: the Lawyers' Club, the John P. Cook Dormitory, the Legal Research Building (Library, and Hutchins Hall. The complex faces a central courtyard with an opening at the southeast corner. An underground addition to the law library was built in 1978–1981, designed by renowned architect Gunnar Birkerts. A major renovation of the Quadrangle was begun in 2012.
The entrances to the Law Quad from South University are archways full of gargoyles modeled after university presidents, faculty, and sports figures. The windows of Hutchins Hall have whimsical etchings on tinted glass satirizing legal terminology. One of the most beautiful of the public spaces is the library with its cathedral ceiling, stained glass, decorative woodwork and cork floor. Tie beams under the ceiling are decorated with lions, hawks and griffins and plaster medallions are found between the beams.
The Law School was the gift of William Wilson Cook, an alumnus of the university who became wealthy in New York City. His will stated, “Believing that the character of the law schools determines the character of the legal profession, I wish to aid in enlarging the scope and improving the standards of the law schools by aiding the one from which I graduated.” Ironically, despite many invitations, Cook never visited Ann Arbor to see his beautiful creation.
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