The Michigan State Medical Society was established in 1866 “to elevate professional and medical education and to cultivate the advancement of medical science.” Among its early presidents was Professor Robert C. Kedzie.
After nearly a century of itinerant existence in various rental properties at Detroit and (later) Lansing, in 1959 the society commissioned famed architect Minoru Yamasaki to design a new, permanent headquarters building. The building’s tall, slender columns, distinctive semi-cylindrical cast-concrete roof, and airy, functional interior spaces make this a gem of the Mid-Century Modern style, and one that is fairly unique among Yamasaki designs. It was completed in 1961. A detached addition, also by the Yamasaki firm, was built in 1979.
The original building was added to the state historic register in 1994, and the national historic register in 2011. The medical society, citing a shifting organizational model and less need for such a large home, moved out in 2021. The building was purchased by Eyde Development in 2023 for $2.2Million, roughly half of its asking price.1
- Archpaper.com, 19 Nov 2021. BS&A Online, accessed 3 Feb 2026. ↩︎
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