Original Construction
1928
Completion Date
2022
Size
192,000 sqft; 105,000 sqft addition
Awards
1998 Preservation Project of the Year Ann Arbor Historic District Commission

The Alexander G. Ruthven Museums Building was designed by renowned architect Albert Kahn and constructed by Spence Brothers in 1928 as the original university natural history museum. 

HopkinsBurns Design Studio served as historic preservation consultant to HED, leading the window replacement, masonry restoration, and restoration of character-defining historic features, including the bronze entry and rotunda. The firm specified historically accurate, thermally glazed aluminum windows that match the mullion profiles, muntins, and colors of surviving original steel windows, replacing the 1970s-era updates. They directed gentle chemical stone cleaning, masonry repointing, and selective brick and limestone repairs using salvaged materials. On the interior, HopkinsBurns directed the restoration of the central rotunda, hand-cleaned heavily soiled travertine walls, restored the polychrome plaster ceiling, and refurbished bronze railings, light fixtures, and original cast-bronze entry doors custom-designed by sculptor Carleton Watson Angell.