Martha Cook Building (University of Michigan)

Please consult the history found in the finding for Martha Cook Building (University of Michigan) Records.

The Martha Cook Building opened in the fall of 1915 as the second all-women's dormitory on the University of Michigan campus. It was a gift of Mr. William Wilson Cook, a lawyer-philanthropist from New York City who was born and raised in Hillsdale, Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with A.B. and L.L.B. degrees before going on to work in Toledo and then New York City. He became a prominent lawyer and later wrote several books. The last years of Mr. Cook's life were spent studying, reading, writing, and supervising his building projects at the university, including the Martha Cook Building and the Law Quadrangle.

William Cook named the dormitory after his mother, Martha Wolford Cook. As her husband was often away, Martha Cook had the primary responsibility of raising their nine children, William being the third oldest. Mr. Cook was obviously inspired by his mother. The home he built for female students in her memory was intended to provide a unique atmosphere in which "the charm and grace and principles of cultured American womanhood" (Macklin and Chamberlain, The Martha Cook Building, p. 4) would be developed. He felt that intellect was important, but he valued character and womanly grace above it.

The building itself was said to be the finest of its type in the nation at the time it was built. Various styles are represented throughout the building, ranging from the Gothic exterior to interiors from Early Renaissance and Tudor Gothic to furnishings from Jacobean and later periods. In one room hangs a life-size portrait of Martha Wolford Cook, which was intended "to portray an epoch in which the mother was queen in her home, respected for the simplicity of her manners and the greatness of her virtues" (ibid., 6). Furniture and accessories include Chinese pottery, sixteenth century Italian sofas, Jacobean chairs, oak tables, a replica of the Venus de Milo carved in Italy from Carrara marble, and a specially-designed Steinway piano inlaid with Circassian walnut. A statue of Portia stands over the front door.

Originally, residency in MCB was offered to senior women only. Eventually, other upperclassmen, graduate students, and freshmen were allowed to live there as well. Because there was often a lengthy waiting list, applicants were assigned points, in part based on their year in school and their grades, and were required to provide a biographical sketch of themselves. The point totals and sketches were used to determine who filled any vacancies that occurred. Over the years a number of Martha Cook Building traditions have developed, including a special dinner for new women in the fall, Friday afternoon tea, a "Messiah Dinner" near Christmas, the Christmas Breakfast, and a Senior Dinner.

Much of the historical sketch above was taken from The Martha Cook Building, by Wystan Stevens, 1976, and The Martha Cook Building, by Elaine Macklin and Tenney Chamberlain, 1970. Copies of both publications may be found in Box 8, under Histories.