| Other Names |
Building 55-Detroit Research
|
| Property Type |
brick building
|
| Historic Use |
HEALTH CARE
|
| Current Use |
DOMESTIC/hotel
|
| Style |
Classical Revival
|
| Architect/Builder |
Donaldson and Meier
|
| Significant Person |
Samuel P. Duffield
Hervey C. Parke
George S. Davis
|
| Narrative Description |
Building Number 55, Detroit Research, as Parke-Davis and Company today calls its Detroit research facility, is a three-story brick building measuring approximately 120' x 40'. The building was constructed in 1902. The architect and builder are unknown. The building is an example of public architecture of the period. It is not noted in architectural surveys of important Detroit properties.
|
| Statement of Significance |
Pharmacology, the study of the changes produced in animals by chemical substances and especially the study of drugs used in treating diseases, has long been an important area of pure or basic scientific research. In the United States the development of pharmacological research began after the Civil War in the medical schools and in the laboratories associated with the drug companies. Along with the electrical and chemical industries the drug companies were among the first industries to introduce the pursuit of basic research as a company policy. The industrial leader in the development of pharmacological research in the United States was Parke-Davis and Company of Detroit, Michigan. When in 1902 Parke-Davis built the first industrial laboratory devoted exclusively to pharmacological research, the facility marked the institutionalization of a pure science research activity which has been responsible for many of the "wonder drugs" that are today taken for granted.
|
| Period of Significance |
1902-1945
|
| Significant Date(s) |
1873
1866
|
| Registry Type(s) |
05/11/1976 National Historic Landmark listed
05/11/1976 National Register listed
|
| Site ID# |
P131
|
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