Social Significance of Hill: Growth and the Need for Campus Planning

The University of Michigan (UM) had grown rapidly by 1910, and the UM administration had become increasingly self-conscious about the quality of the UM facilities and the campus layout. Money from Michigan's booming automotive manufacturing industry became earmarked for the university. Enrollments increased from 3,303 in 1900 [9] to 5,339 in 1910, [10] and new buildings (dormitories, laboratories, and classrooms) had to be erected to serve "..the hundreds of new students coming each year." [11] Professor of Architecture Emil Lorch hoped to control and organize this growth when he created the first comprehensive campus plan in 1906.

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Illustration 10. Rosette at Hill Auditorium

Influenced by the 1893 Columbian Exposition, architects at other Big Ten schools, such as Clarence Blackall at the University of Illinois, were engaged in this trend toward campus master planning. A desire emerged for an auditorium to be built on campus, one large enough to house almost the entire student body of 5,000. School administrators felt that the bringing together of all students under one roof would help to build campus spirit and to enhance the individual's sense of affiliation with the institution. In 1907, the University of Illinois erected a 2,100 seat facility at the heart of its new South Quadrangle, and Michigan officials were, no doubt, aware of its existence and eager to surpass it. Others, in turn, noted with some interest the UM's construction of Hill Auditorium; an Ohio State alumni magazine noted in 1930 Hill's recent construction. A photo of it appeared in an article lobbying for a similar facility on the Columbus campus.[12] Universities aggressively evaluated the facilities of one another, to aid in planning and to maintain a competitive edge against rival institutions. Auditoria and other large-scale facilities were important facilities for universities, housing prestigious cultural events and morale-building educational ceremonies.

Prior to 1913, large convocations met in a 3,000-seat auditorium in the aged University Hall, built in 1871; periodic concerns about the structural safety of the space combined with the dated, confused architectural styling of the building, influenced school administrators to replace it. In addition to this space, chapels, large classrooms, or athletic facilities had served as venues previously, but they were increasingly viewed as inappropriate for a university of high academic repute. Architects Charles Z. Klauder and Herbert C. Wise wrote in 1929 in their book, College Architecture in America and Its Part in the Development of the Campus: "However commodious a chapel there may be, a separate auditorium as a place for meetings having no religious character for lectures and for concerts, is highly desireable--at a large institution, essential." [13] As a seat of learning in the modern era, universities needed to provide a wide array of cultural facilities comparable to those of large cities, such as art museums, music halls and theaters.

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