Prentis Building and DeRoy Auditorium

The Prentis Building and Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium on Wayne State University's campus were constructed at the same time in 1962-64. Both were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, FAIA, of Yamasaki and Associates. Both buildings were partly financed by philanthropic donations from private donors, the Prentis Building, from a donation by Meyer and Anna Prentis, and the Helen L.

DeRoy Auditorium from a donation made by the Helen L. DeRoy Foundation. The DeRoy Auditorium and Prentis Building possess exceptional significance under national register criterion C at the national level of significance as works of nationally prominent architect Minoru Yamasaki that reflect that critical period in Yamasaki's career in the late 1950's and early 60's when he was experimenting with ornament and the effects of light and shadow as well as using pools and gardens to soften the urban character in reaction to standard International Style architecture. These designs of Yamasaki's followed round the world trips he made that included visits to the Taj Mahal and Japan as well as Europe's great Gothic cathedrals.

All four Wayne State University buildings by Yamasaki- the DeRoy Auditorium and Prentis Building as well as the McGregor Conference Center and the Education Building -completed in the 1956-64 period, are nationally important because of their places in Yamasaki's evolution as an architect.

The Prentis Building and Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium form a two-building complex on the Wayne State University campus that was designed by Minoru Yamasaki and built in the 1962-64 period. The buildings were designed to relate closely to one another both in terms of their functions and in architectural and spatial terms. The Prentis Building, housing the School of Business Administration, is a rectangular three-story building with its broad front facing Cass Avenue.

The building's two upper stories project outward beyond the recessed ground floor, the broad front and rear upper portions supported on square columns that become dividers between banks of windows in the upper stories. The building has a buff-colored travertine marble base with columns sheathed in cast concrete panels. Cast concrete panels and narrow windows face the upper two stories of the structure. The ground floor of the Prentis Building contains a broad off-center walkthrough passage that permits a straight-on view of DeRoy's front facade from Cass Avenue.

DeRoy Auditorium is a windowless building, almost square in plan, and it has a flat roof with a projecting roofline. It is faced with cast concrete panels that are formed into Gothic arches below the roofline. The arches begin at the base of the building and project at right angles from the wall planes to create an effect like Gothic tracery. The cast concrete panels were originally white, but have grayed over time.

The DeRoy Auditorium is surrounded by a reflecting pool on all sides. There are entrances to the building at the east and west sides of the building, accessed over small bridges.