Robert C. Metcalf

Robert C. Metcalf was born November 7, 1923, in Nashville, Ohio. In 1940, Metcalf applied to the University of Michigan’s Department of Architecture, writing in his application, “I would like to make a name for myself in architecture; rather, I am going to do that.”[1] Metcalf entered the University of Michigan in the fall of 1941. However, on December 8th, the day after the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Metcalf and his friends took the bus to Detroit to enlist in the Marine Corps. Despite his eagerness to enlist, Metcalf was turned away from the Marines due to a punctured ear drum and flat feet. Returning to the university, Metcalf continued his studies until March 15, 1943 when he was inducted into the United States Army, where he was assigned to a self-propelled artillery unit for basic training. Metcalf completed his training on Memorial Day 1943, graduating with the rank of Sergeant, and four days later on May 28th married Bettie Jane Sponseller, a registered nurse from Canton, Ohio.

In August 1943, Metcalf was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), a unit designed to provide the Army with highly trained technicians and specialists. Metcalf was sent to Johns Hopkins University for an intensive civil engineering program in which students completed the regular one year course of study in six months. In February 1944, the Army terminated ASTP and transferred its students to combat units. Metcalf joined the 84th Infantry Division and in September 1944 was sent to Europe. He served forty-two months in the Army with the 84th Infantry and was awarded the Silver Star medal and a field commission as a Lieutenant. After his discharge from the service in 1946, Metcalf returned to his studies at the University of Michigan.

While enrolled in the Department of Architecture, Metcalf began an apprenticeship with professor George B. Brigham, a practicing Ann Arbor architect. Metcalf was Brigham’s chief draftsman on approximately thirty residential projects in the Ann Arbor vicinity, and worked for Brigham from 1948 to 1952. Upon completion of his studies (B. Arch., 1950), Metcalf and his wife decided to remain in Ann Arbor. Demand for post-war housing was strong and Ann Arbor “seemed the best place to begin a practice based on contemporary house design.”[2] To put down their roots, the Metcalfs found an available lot on the east side of Ann Arbor and decided to design and build their own home. Metcalf’s rationale was that “with luck, the construction would attract a client, but in the worst case, we assumed we could sell the house to recover costs and then build another.”[3] The design of the house took one year and the construction approximately thirteen months. Robert and Bettie each worked on varying aspects of the construction after leaving their regular day jobs, having picnic dinners on-site every night for almost two years. The Metcalf home was featured in the Michigan Alumnus (1961) and Better Homes and Gardens (1965). In 2008, the Metcalfs received a Historic Preservation award from the City of Ann Arbor for their home.

Metcalf’s completion of his home coincided with the launching of a successful private practice. Bettie Metcalf retired from nursing in the same year to become the secretary and bookkeeper for Metcalf’s new architectural firm. From 1953 to 2008, Metcalf’s office completed over 150 projects in Michigan and Ohio. George Brigham’s influence on the young architect was evident in Metcalf’s modernist residences and commercial works. Metcalf’s designs were also shaped by his esteem for architects Charles Sumner Greene, Henry Mather Greene, Bernard Maybeck, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Harwell Hamilton Harris.[4] Metcalf’s work is notable for his emphasis on design analysis, a strength well reflected in his architectural drawings and sketches. As fellow architect and urban planer Gerald Crane observed, “Metcalf is the real thing. His work is totally honest and his construction drawings are absolutely meticulous.”[5] Metcalf’s houses reflect his beliefs in the importance of incorporating light, airiness, and nature into a home with the goal of creating “a serenity about a house.”[6]

Metcalf designed houses and businesses for many of Detroit and Ann Arbor’s most prominent citizens. Among the University of Michigan faculty and administration for whom Metcalf designed homes were physicist H. Richard Crane (1953), College of Architecture professor Catherine B. Heller (1953), chemistry professor Philip J. Elving (1954), physicist David M. Dennison (1954), anthropology professor Elman R. Service (1954), physics professors Lawrence W. Jones (1955) and Kent M. Terwilliger (1955), industrial management professor Franklin G. Moore (1955), internal medicine professor and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism Stefan S. Fajans (1957), professor of political science Everett S. Brown (1958), professor of surgery Dr. Reed O. Dingman (1959), engineering professor John Holland (1964) and professor of chemistry Lawrence S. Bartell (1988). In addition, Metcalf designed houses for Mr. Millard H. Pryor, Chairman of the Board of the Mollard-Barnes Manufacturing Company (1958), President of the Ford Motor Company Mr. Arjay Miller (1965), and Mr. George Huebner, a former Chrysler Director of Research, and his wife Trudy Huebner, a former University of Michigan Regent (1975).

Over the course of his career, Metcalf worked with other architects including Tivadar Balogh and William Werner. Tivadar Balogh, a fellow UM alumnus (class of 1952) and later instructor in Michigan’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning, joined Metcalf’s firm in 1954, working as one of his draftsmen until 1960, when he left to work as an architect and designer for the firms of Shreve, Walker, and Associates and W. B. Ford Design Associates, both of Detroit. Metcalf had a longstanding relationship with architect William Werner. Werner, some of whose work appears in this collection, joined Metcalf in professional practice in 1955. He received his bachelor’s and master’s of architecture from Michigan (class of ’52 and ’57, respectively), and taught structure courses in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, beginning as an instructor in 1956 and retiring as a full Professor in 1998.

Among the many honors Metcalf has received for architecture are Honorable Mention in the Morton Arboretum Small House Competition (1954), an Honors Award from the Detroit Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for his own home (1955), an Award Citation from Progressive Architecture for designing the home of UM Professor David M. Dennison (1955), Honorable Mention with Tivadar Balogh in the Porcelain Enamel Design Competition for a youth center (1956), Third Award by the National Conference on Church Architecture for his work on the Church of the Good Shepherd (1958), the Homes for Better Living Honorable Mention from the American Institute of Architects, House & Home and Life magazines (1958), membership in the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, and the President’s Award for lifetime achievement from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Michigan (1999). Metcalf also served as past president of the Huron Valley Chapter of the AIA.

Metcalf’s work has been featured in numerous architectural journals including Progressive Architecture (January 1955), the Michigan Society of Architects’ Monthly Bulletin (October 1955), Architectural Forum (March 1956), and the University of Michigan’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning’s Portico (1991). Metcalf has also received mention in other non-industry publications such as House and Home (1958), Ann Arbor Observer (1977), Ann Arbor Women’s City Club Magazine (1982), Detroit Home (2004), Our House (2007), and Unwind Ann Arbor Business Review (2007). Stories on Metcalf and his work have also appeared repeatedly over the years in The Ann Arbor News , the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit Free Press Roto Magazine , the Michigan Alumnus , the Michigan Daily , Lansing’s State Journal , and The Canton Repository .

In addition to Metcalf’s private architectural practice, he had a long teaching and administrative career in the University of Michigan’s College of Architecture and Design. He joined the Department of Architecture as a part-time visiting lecturer in 1950 and was later promoted to Assistant Professor (1958), Associate Professor (1963), and Professor (1968). In 1968, Metcalf was also appointed Chairman of the Department of Architecture. In 1974, the same year in which Department became the College of Architecture, Metcalf was awarded the University of Michigan’s Sol King Award for Excellence in Teaching in Architecture. Metcalf served as the first Dean of the College, a position he held from 1974 until 1986. Metcalf stepped down from the Dean position in 1986 to begin phased retirement from the College. In 1989, the University of Michigan Board of Regents named Metcalf the Emil Lorch Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning. Metcalf retired from the university with emeritus status in 1991. Bettie J. Metcalf passed away in February 2008.

James Handy House, 1949
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert C. Metcalf House, 1952
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Frank Griesinger House, 1952
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan (map)

Richard H. Crane House, 1953
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Catherine B. Heller House Addition, 1953
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

H. S. Bull House, 1953
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Gorton F. Price House, 1954
Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan (map)

Elman R. & Helen S. Service House, 1954
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Philip J. Elving House, 1954
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

George Brymer Williams House, 1954
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

David M. Dennison House, 1954
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

James P. Warren Office (remodel), 1954
Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Charles W. Phillips House, 1955
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Franklin C. Forsythe House, 1955
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Franklin G. Moore House, 1955
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Lawrence W. Jones House, 1955
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Maurice B. Hodges House, 1955
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Gamma Phi Beta Sorority House, 1955
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Kent M. Terwilliger House, 1955
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Damon C. Woods House, 1956
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Albert Duckek House, 1956
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Inter Cooperative Council Mark VIII House, 1956
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Kenneth. Patterson House, 1956
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

William Baum House, 1956
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Lloyd T. Williams House, 1956
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert B. O’Hara House, 1956
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Filmer Paradise House, 1956
Barton Hills, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

E. W. Reynolds House, 1956
Scio Twp, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Fred Black House (remodel), 1957
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Edmund S. & Catherine Botch House, 1957
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Stefan S. Fajans House, 1957
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Kenneth Magee House, 1957
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Church of the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ, 1957
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Marshall D. Sahlins House, 1957
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Norman N. Gottlieb House, 1957
Flint, Genesee County, Michigan (map)

William H. Lyon House, 1957
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan (map)

West Park Shelter, 1958
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert M. Campbell House, 1958
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Everett S. Brown House, 1958
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Mr. and Mrs. William Willits, 1958
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Millard Pryor House, 1958
Barton Hills, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Paul Harvey House, 1958
East Tawas, Iosco County, Michigan (map)

Albert C. & Elizabeth Furstenberg House Alterations, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Harold E. Wilde House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Reed O. Dingman House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Graham Chen House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert W. Carr House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Hollis W. Peter House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Leslie A. Grimord House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Ralph S. & Helen Moyer House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Jacques Les Strang House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Hubbard House, 1959
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

O. W. Blackett House, 1959
Barton Hills, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Saint Andrew’s United Church of Christ, 1959
Dexter, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

J. Max. Busard House, 1959
Muskegon, Muskegon County, Michigan (map)

Frederick J. Beutler House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Kenneth Case House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Lyle D. Elliott House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert W. Parry House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Mischa Titiev House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Leonard A. Greenbaum House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Winthrop N. Davey House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Gilbert R. Love 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Arnold S. Tannenbaum House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Alice Rhodes Mulchahey House, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Ann Arbor Elementary School, 1960
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert Emerick House, 1960
Fremont, Newaygo County, Michigan (map)

Haven H. Spencer House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Larkin B. Breed House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Henry & Margaret Ogden House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Louis J. Richard House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

John Hall House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Sharp House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Douglas S. Sherwin House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Kyle L. Fuller Office (Hodges Travel Agency), 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority House, 1961
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Lewis Price House Addition, 1961
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan (map)

William L. Root House, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Albert Duckek House, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Michael Radock House Addition, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Alpha Delta Pi Sorority House Addition, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Stuart S. Churchill House, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Island Park Shelter, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Edmund Krigbaum House, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Peter Van Boven, Jr. House, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Loch Alpine Golf and Swim Club, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Potters Guild, 1962
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Huron Valley Girl Scout Council Building, 1962
Livingston County, Michigan (map)

John R. Laird House, 1963
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

James E. Heywood, House, 1963
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

BBON Venture Medical Office, 1963
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Beth Israel Community Center, 1963
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Drs. Theodore R. Cage & T. J. Smeckert Dental Office, 1963
Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Phi Alpha Kappa Fraternity House, 1964
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Walter H. & Laurene Swartz House, 1964
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert M. Warner House, 1964
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

William R. Mann House, 1964
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

John H. Holland House, 1964
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

James Olds House, 1964
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Arjay R. Miller House, 1965
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Richard A. Leabo House, 1965
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1965
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Saint Clare’s Episcopal Mission, Mission of St. Clare of Assisi, 1965
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Irving N. Stahl House, 1965
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan (map)

Courtland Corporation Office Building, 1965
Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Guy E. Swanson House, 1966
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Elmer Gilbert House, 1966
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

George J. Chatas House, 1966
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Keeve M. Siegel, House, 1966
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Max L. Hutt House, 1966
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Ian & Millicent Higgins House, 1967
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert C. Metcalf Office, 1967
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

James Wilkes House Remodel, 1967
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Erich E. Steiner House, 1968
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Bently Park Shelter & Bandstand, 1968
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan (map)

Towner Medical Building, 1968
Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Nu Sigma Nu Fraternity House, 1969
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Harry Edwards House (addition), 1971
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Harold T. Shapiro House, 1971
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

University of Michigan Lorch Hall Office (remodel), 1971
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Jackie Holden House, 1971
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

William P. Harris House, 1971
Grosse Pointe, Wayne County, Michigan (map)

David Chambers House, 1972
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

A. C. Spindler House, 1972
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Wendell H. Dwight House, 1972
Williamston, Ingham County, Michigan (map)

John R. Lair, II House, 1974
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Robert M. Warner House, 1974
Friendship Twp, Emmet County, Michigan (map)

Erwin C. Paul House, 1974
Manchester, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Huebner House, 1975
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Leonard Eaton House, 1977
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Eugene F. Claeys House, 1978
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Stanley Watson & Huda Akil House, 1980
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

John Lingdon House, 1981
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Eric. Stein House, 1986
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Ralph Michener House, 1987
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Lawrence S. Bartell House, 1988
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Don W. Robinson House, 1989
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Gilbert-Verbrugge House, 1989
Beluah, Benzie County, Michigan (map)

Ed Yao House, 1991
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

John R. Laird House, 1992
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Howard Gustein House, 1992
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Harold A. Jahnke House, 1992
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Ruth Siegel House, 1995
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Lawrence W. Waggoner House, 1996
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Elliot Valenstein House, 1996
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Hinman-Young House, 1997
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Jamie Seguino House, 1998
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Hiro Uete House
Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Jim Daniels House
Cavanaugh Lake, Washtenaw County, Michigan (map)

Kulitz Martin House
Gilbert Lake, Oceana County, Michigan (map)

Bentley Historical Library. Robert Metcalf; BL003593. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Jarvis, Kate Donovan. Finding aid for Robert C. Metcalf papers, 1950-2008: Biography. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.