Donaldson and Meier

John Donaldson, c. 1904

Henry Meier, c. 1904

David Stott Building

Donaldson and Meier was an architectural firm based in Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1880 by John M. Donaldson (1854–1941) and Henry J. Meier (1858–1917), the firm produced a large and varied number of commissions in Detroit and southeastern Michigan. Donaldson, the principal designer of the partnership from a design point of view, was born in Stirling, Scotland and immigrated to Detroit at a young age. He returned to Europe where he studied at the Art Academy in Munich, Germany, and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.^[1]

The early designs from the firm, such as the Unitarian Universalist Church in Ann Arbor, were frequently in the Richardsonian Romanesque style but, as with many other architectural companies whose longevity outlast the style of the day, their output changed with the times. Their last buildings, such as the David Stott Building, were in the Art Deco genre.

Like most of the prominent architects in Detroit during the 1920s and 1930s, Donaldson and Meier employed sculptor Lee Lawrie to produce a panel for Beaumont Tower and hired Corrado Parducci to create sculpture for many of their other buildings.

Selected commissions

All buildings are located in Detroit, unless otherwise indicated.

• Campbell Symington House (ca. 1880)
• Unitarian Universalist Church (1881–82), Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Alpha Delta Phi "Stone House" (1883), Ann Arbor, Michigan^[2]
• St. Vincent de Paul Church (1885), Pontiac, Michigan
• First Unitarian Church of Detroit (1889–90; burned, 2014)
• St. Elizabeth Church (1892)
• St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (1892)
• Julius T. Melchers House (1897)
• Union Trust Building (ca. 1897)
• St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church (n.d.)
• Woodward Arcade Building (1901)
• Parke-Davis Research Laboratory (1902)
• St. Anthony Church (1902)
• Penobscot Building (1905)
• Annunciation Church/Our Lady of Sorrows Church (ca. 1906)
• YMCA Building (1907)
• Dental Building (1909), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Alumni Hall (University of Michigan Art Museum) (1910), Ann Arbor, Michigan
• State Savings Bank addition (1914)
• St. David School and Convent (ca. 1920s)
• Most Holy Redeemer Church (1921)
• St. Agnes Catholic Church (Martyrs of Uganda) (1921)
• St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church (1922)^[3]
• Sacred Heart Seminary (1923)
• Chancery Building (1924)
• St. Hyacinth Church (1924)
• St. Rita Catholic Church (1925), Holly, Michigan
• The Bird House (1926), Detroit Zoo, Royal Oak, Michigan
• Chapel of St. Theresa-the Little Flower (1926)
• Elizabeth Cleveland Intermediate School (1927)
• Beaumont Tower (1928), Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
• Cooley High School (1928)
• David Stott Building (1929)
• St. Catherine of Siena Roman Catholic Church (1929)
• St. Aloysius Church (1930)

Gallery

• 

  St. Vincent de Paul Church

• 

  First Unitarian Church of Detroit, c. 1906

• 

  Parke-Davis Research Laboratory

• 

  Penobscot Building

• 

  Chapel of St. Theresa-the Little Flower (now St. Patrick Church)

• 

  Beaumont Tower

• 

  Detail of tower sculpture

References

1. Hill, Eric J.; John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3. P. 340.
2. A look at the Alpha Delta Phi 'Stone House' in Ann Arbor, AnnArbor.com, March 2010
3. St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church. Historic Detroit. Retrieved on January 2, 2014.

Sources

• Doyle, Right Reverend John M., Saint Aloysius Church: The Old and the New, Centennial Publishing Company, Detroit, 1930.
• Eckert, Kathryn Bishop, Buildings of Michigan, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993.
• Ferry, W. Hawkins, The Buildings of Detroit: A History, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1968.
• Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3.
• Meyer, Katherine Mattingly and Martin C.P. McElroy with Introduction by W. Hawkins Ferry, Hon A.I.A. (1980). Detroit Architecture A.I.A. Guide Revised Edition. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1651-4.
• Reade, Marjorie and Susan Wineburg, Historic Buildings: Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor Historical Foundation, 1992.
• Savage, Rebecca Binno and Greg Kowalski, Art Deco in Detroit (Images of America), Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
• Sharoff, Robert (2005). American City: Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3270-6.

External links

• http://detroit1701.org/CampbellSymington.html
• http://detroit1701.org/Annunciation%20Church.html
• Donaldson and Meier on LocalWiki