Design for the North Wing of the Library and Chapel Building at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Design for the North Wing of the Library and Chapel Building at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Alexander Jackson Davis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a neo-gothic building presented in an open field. The building is characterized by an entrance risalite on the left side and six window bays to the right. On the far right are construction lines with annotations containing measurements. The inscription below the design identifies it as part of the plans A. J. Davis developed for the University of Michigan. He proposed a scheme in neo-gothic style, and another in a neoclassical style, neither of which were executed.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for the North Wing of the Library and Chapel Building at the University of Michigan, Ann ArborDesign for the North Wing of the Library and Chapel Building at the University of Michigan, Ann ArborDesign for the North Wing of the Library and Chapel Building at the University of Michigan, Ann ArborDesign for the North Wing of the Library and Chapel Building at the University of Michigan, Ann ArborDesign for the North Wing of the Library and Chapel Building at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.