{"id":166,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=166"},"modified":"2025-12-09T16:34:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T16:34:43","slug":"architects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/architects\/","title":{"rendered":"The Architects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Williams Hall<\/a> and College Hall<\/a>, looking south circa 1888 in a photo taken by Professor Rolla Carpenter<\/a>. At center beyond the trees is the 1st Wells Hall<\/a>. Image source: MSU Archives<\/a><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The earliest years of the Michigan Agricultural College were marked by a slow rate of construction, its buildings designed by several different architects. The original trio of buildings\u2014College Hall<\/a>, Saints\u2019 Rest<\/a>, the brick horse barn<\/a>, all 1856\u2014are generally attributed to John C. Holmes<\/a>. These were followed in 1857 by a quartet of professors\u2019 residences<\/a> by Scott & Bunnell of Toledo, Ohio. (This author assumes that President Williams, having recently moved from Toledo, is the reason for this out-of-state firm having been chosen.) For the next dozen years, only utility buildings\u2014barns<\/a> and a farm house<\/a>\u2014were added, all from faculty or vernacular designs and often built using student labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new era of construction began in 1869, and with it a shift toward established architects. Williams Hall<\/a> was designed by William Henry Mallory of Ann Arbor. Mallory is fairly obscure today but following a move to southern Ontario circa 1873 (or 1867, or 1877\u2014sources vary) he became quite prolific and the patriarch of a three-generation family of architects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chemical Laboratory<\/a> of 1871 was by Dr. Kedzie<\/a>, whose field was chemistry rather than architecture. The result was a fairly vernacular appearance but a professional functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1874, the College hired Elijah E. Myers, fresh off his Michigan State Capitol commission, to design three residences on Faculty Row<\/a> including the President\u2019s home. There is a bit of intrigue here, although the Minutes<\/em> never seem to face it head-on. All three houses had their share of issues, such as interior walls needing to be recalcimined due to \u201cunslaked lime in the mortar.\u201d There was some contentiousness from Myers too: he billed the College for additional expenses in supervising their construction, and he seems also to have balked at the fact that the College bought two designs but built three houses (as \u2116 2 and \u2116 3 were identical) without paying commission for the third. Negotiations were protracted, and complicated by the fact that Myers\u2019 offices were at Detroit in a pre-telephone era. At one point board member Franklin Wells traveled to Detroit by train to resolve their differences, only to find Mr. Myers \u201cabsent from the city.\u201d Given the travel conditions of the time this must have been a multi-day trip for naught. It took more than two years after the dwellings were completed before the contracts were finally closed.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this, and perhaps as a reaction to the difficulty of working with such distant firms, the Board began to look toward Lansing-based talent. The first of these was the firm of George Watkins and Ernest W. Arnold. Watkins & Arnold created three commissions over four years: the first Wells Hall<\/a>, Faculty Row<\/a> \u2116 8, and the original Botany Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next came William P. Appleyard, born March 17, 1857, at Canandaigua, New York. His father, James Appleyard, moved the family to Lansing in 1872 when he was appointed as the general construction supervisor of the State Capitol building. Young William briefly attended Notre Dame but left without a degree. His first job upon returning to Lansing in 1874 was to design the flag walks at the Capitol, \u201cundoubtedly a commission awarded by his father.\u201d In 1881, William Appleyard served as supervising architect on the M.A.C. Library\u2013Museum<\/a>, and for the next eight years he was the College\u2019s architect of choice, as all major constructions either came from his hand or were built under his supervision: Faculty Row<\/a> \u2116 9 and \u2116 10, Armory<\/a>, Veterinary Lab<\/a>, Mechanical Shops<\/a> (as consultant on Carpenter\u2019s<\/a> plans), Abbot Hall<\/a>, Howard Terrace<\/a>, and Horticulture Lab<\/a>. Three of these remain standing today.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appleyard left the field of architecture in 1890 to enter the railroad industry, joining the Pullman Company of Chicago as Mechanical Inspector. A few years later he moved to the New Haven Railroad and rose to the rank of Master Car Builder, developing a line of \u201ccurious\u201d if not \u201cradical\u201d copper-sheathed passenger cars, said to increase cleanliness and reduce the amount of time a car spent in the paint shop. Appleyard returned to Pullman in 1904 as Superintendent of Equipment, but died the following year at age forty-nine when he was struck by a train at the Illinois Central\u2019s 63rd Street Station in Chicago. Tragically, the train that struck him\u2014and which he was rushing to meet\u2014was carrying his wife Mary who was returning home after a trip to Lansing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before his untimely passing, and before he left the field of architecture, William Appleyard had occasion to work for a time with the central figure in this tale, a man who was the single most important architect of the Michigan Agricultural College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwyn A. Bowd<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Edwyn Alfred Spencer Bowd was born November 11, 1865, at Cheltenham, England. He emigrated with his mother to Detroit in 1882 and started his career with architect Gordon W. Lloyd. After a few years Bowd moved to Saginaw, and around 1887 he arrived at Lansing where he associated with William Appleyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Appleyard and Bowd\u2019s \u201cClass IV\u201d design to accommodate 100\u2013120 pupils, showing elements recapitulated in both Appleyard\u2019s Horticulture Lab<\/a> and Bowd\u2019s Botany Lab<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That same year of 1887, Appleyard and Bowd participated in a competition for designs of low-priced schoolhouses held by the New York State Department of Public Instruction. There were six size classes in the competition, ranging from a modest one-room schoolhouse to a five-room model with space for 250 students. Appleyard and Bowd submitted plans for three classes, and won first place in all three by unanimous decision.†<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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E. A. Bowd, excerpted from a photo of the Lansing Cycling Club, 1890. Image courtesy of Capital Area District Libraries<\/a>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Appleyard sold his share in the Lansing practice to Bowd in 1888, and after Appleyard changed his profession, the College\u2019s next commissions, Old Botany<\/a> and Station Terrace<\/a>, went to Bowd. Although he would not contribute another building to the College for the next ten years, this was the start of a long and mutually beneficial partnership between Bowd and the College.††<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 1, 1902, Bowd was appointed College Architect on an annual retainer of $1,500.3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0As a result, he was the principal architect for the vast majority of campus buildings for the next four decades until his death in 1940, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n