Click above images to enlarge Michigan State Medical Society Headquarters Building 120Saginaw, East Lansing - Ingham County Property Type office building Historic Use COMMERCE/TRADE/business Current Use COMMERCE/TRADE/business Style Modern Movement Moderne Architect/Builder Granger Brothers Minoru Yamasaki Narrative Description The Michigan State Medical Society Headquarters, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, is a modern two-story precast concrete and steel structure with glass walls. Sixty-four tall slender columns gracefully support the vaulted roof. The roof comprises thirty-one semi-circular stilted arches of precast concrete, each five feet in width by fifty-five feet in length. Pale grayish white and pale reddish brown quartz aggregate sparkles on the surface of the concrete columns and side walls. Semi-opaque glass set within aluminum framing and broken only with polished verde antique marble rectangular panels between floors curtains the north and south walls. The verticality of the structural system combined with the curve of the roof vaults presents a unique silhouette that marks the building as a dignified headquarters of the state medical society. In fact, so distinctive is the light and airy silhouette that first visitors were prompted to proclaim "It [the building] seems to float in the air (The Lansing State Journal, 4 June 1961)." Statement of Significance The Michigan State Medical Society planned its headquarters as a health education clearing house for physicians and for the public. The society hoped that the grace and beauty of the headquarters would serve as an outward and visible symbol of the humanitarian purposes of a society committed to contributing to the cultural and educational life of the community and of the state by its appearance, its service and its scientific activity. The headquarters was dedicated on 4 June 1961. Dr. E. Vincent Askey of Los Angeles, president of the American Medical Association, spoke at the dedication. Dr. Kenneth H. Johnson of Lansing, president of the society, also addressed those assembled. The Michigan Medical Society has a long history. On 5 June 1866 one hundred members of the medical profession in Michigan assembled in the Supreme Court Room of the Odd Fellows Hall in Detroit to form a State Medic Society. The organization called itself the Michigan State Medical Society, an association of the profession for the purpose of mutual recognition and fellowship; maintenance of union, harmony and good government among members thereby promoting the character, interest, honor and usefulness of the profession; and the cultivation and advancement of medical science, of literature, and the elevation of the standard of the professional education. Membership was elected from regular practitioners of medicine and surgery in Michigan, who were also a member of a local society if such society existed. This society replaced two earlier short-lived medical organizations that operated intermittently. Marker Name Michigan State Medical Society Building / Michigan State Medical Society Marker Text MICHIGAN STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY In 1819 five physicians organized the Michigan Medical Society in Detroit. Its purpose was "to examine medical students and certify those so deemed as doctors." The group reorganized in Ann Arbor as the Peninsula Medical Society in 1851. That organization disbanded by 1859. On June 5, 1866, one hundred physicians from across the state once again met in Detroit and founded the Michigan State Medical Society. The society pledged "to elevate professional medical education and to cultivate the advancement of medical science." Among its first projects was the establishment of a state public health department, which was created in 1873. The society was housed in various buildings in Detroit and Lansing until this headquarters was completed in 1961. MICHIGAN STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY HEADQUARTERS World-renowned Michigan architect Minoru Yamasaki (1912-85) designed the Michigan State Medical Society Headquarters. Upon its completion in 1961, Yamasaki explained, "The intent was to build a serene and inviting building to express the idealism and humanity of the medical profession." The terraced landscape, the slender columns and the graceful lines inspired visitors to remark, "It seems to float in the air." In 1991 the Yamasaki firm designed an atrium connecting the original building to the Cyrus M. Stockwell wing, named for the society's first president. Yamasaki's best-known design is the World Trade Center in New York City. Period of Significance 1946- Significant Date(s) 1961 Registry Type(s) 06/28/1995 Marker erected 12/09/1994 State Register listed Site ID# P176