Rackham Building - A Ford Fortune in Stone

A stop on University of Michigan Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

The long, dignified building across East Washington Street, faced in pale Indiana limestone on a granite base and topped with a copper roof, is the Horace H. Rackham Building, home of the university's graduate school. Its money traces back to a Detroit lawyer named Horace Rackham. In 1903 he helped draw up the incorporation papers for a new company started by Henry Ford, and Ford talked him into buying some stock. Rackham scraped together about $5,000 for 50 shares. Sixteen years later, the Ford family bought him out for $12.5 million.

Rackham and his wife Mary lived modestly and gave much of the fortune away. After his death in 1933, trustees of the Rackham fund paid for this building, and some 30 older structures were cleared to make room for it. William Kapp of the Detroit firm Smith, Hinchman and Grylls designed it, and it was finished in 1938.

Look closely at the bronze window and door frames and the carved stone details by sculptor Corrado Parducci.

Getting here: Cross the Diag to North University Avenue and walk north along the tree-lined Ingalls Mall, past Hill Auditorium and Burton Tower (you'll come back to both), to East Washington Street.

Did you know?: The graduate school dates to 1912 but had no headquarters of its own until this building opened. In 1980 the Rackham Building won the Building Stone Institute's Tucker Award for its stonework.

Photo op: Stand on the south side of East Washington Street to fit the full width of the limestone facade and its copper roof into one frame.

More on Wikipedia: Rackham Graduate School · Horace Rackham · Corrado Parducci

Rackham Building - A Ford Fortune in Stone

Stops on this tour