Richard M. Robinson

Colvin, Robinson, and Wright
Colvin, Robinson, and Wright are best remembered as an all-purpose firm that did a lot of unexciting practical work, but they are also responsible for some inspired mid-century homes and clever modernizations of older buildings. Once the largest architectural firm in Ann Arbor, they had a high level of client satisfaction as shown by the fact that they were called back again and again by their major clients including the Ann Arbor Public Schools and the University of Michigan.
Richard M. Robinson

Richard M. Robinson

 

In 1950, Huston “Tex” Colvin (1908-1995) and Richard Robinson (1912-1990) joined forces. Both men were graduates of the University of Michigan School of Architecture. Colvin had worked for William Kapp, a well-respected Detroit architect, and then formed a local partnership with Frederic Heller. Robinson had worked for Douglas Loree, the same architect who later employed David Osler. Colvin and Robinson moved into an office on the second floor of 206 E. Huron, which they remodeled with a reception room, drafting room, and two conference rooms.
In 1960 they took in a third partner, Don Wright (1921-2015), and organized their office with Colvin dealing with the public, Robinson running the office and taking the lead on designing the buildings, and Wright supervising in the field.
In 1964, they bought the building next door to their office at 208 E. Huron, which when remodeled doubled their workspace. The new building was one and a half floors, as only the back part went up to a second floor. They extended it to the front and changed the address of the whole building to 210 E. Huron. Wright designed a modern-style façade made with light brown brick boldly bisected by a recessed vertical bay that went over both buildings. (It still looks like this although with more windows have been added.)
When Colvin retired in 1976 the Ann Arbor News wrote that he had “watched Ann Arbor grow from a quiet college town to a sprawling university city and has achieved marked success despite the area’s seeming over-abundance of architects.” Robinson took over for a few years before retiring himself.
Residential Commissions. In the 1950s, they produced some wonderful midcentury houses, many of which were featured in the Ann Arbor News. It was not unusual for beginning firms to start with houses as there was great demand for them with veterans returning from World War II starting families, although larger jobs were more lucrative.
1700 Hermitage, Mary and William Dobson, 1951. “Five years of scrapbooking paid off handsomely,” said Mary Dobson in an Ann Arbor News article about her recently completed home. She decided on a modern style so that her family could get the biggest house possible for what they could afford. She also wanted it to be low upkeep so she could spend more time with her three children. The open plan gave more flexibility in the space available and an easier traffic flow. High windows allowed more choices of where to put furniture.
2671 Bedford, Donald and Muriel Creagan, 1952. “A modern approach to good living” is how a contemporary Ann Arbor News article described the house. Built of redwood, the house is nestled on a sloping lot, so the living room is on the second floor on the street side, while on the same level as the back yard from the other side of the house. Inside, an open plan with no obstructing walls meant the person in the kitchen could be part of the conversation in the living area.
605 Huronview Boulevard, Richard and Alma Robinson, 1953. The architect’s own home, it is a one-story structure with a slanted roof starting at the entrance and continuing over the carport. According to an Ann Arbor News article, Robinson designed the house using many suggestions from his wife Alma. The resulting house included unique features such as closets with bamboo curtains rather than doors to both save money and to allow more air circulation; easy to clean cork floors; a partially open kitchen so the cook could take part in the conversations; and lots of glass. In the back, floor to ceiling windows look out on to the backyard.
501 Huronview Boulevard, Kenneth and Jeanne Heininger, 1953. “To build a home today and get maximum livability at reasonable cost is one of the toughest problems facing the building industry today” is the first sentence in the Ann Arbor News article about the Heininger residence. But Ken Heininger, who worked with Neil Staebler on his housing developments, knew whom to hire to get this done. Built on a hill, it was carefully designed for multiple views of a dramatic overlook. Inexpensive materials, such as brick and fir, were used both inside and out. Inside, only the bedrooms are compartmentalized. The rest is open and flexible for different uses.
859 Oakdale in Barton Hills, Elizabeth and Robert Langford, 1954. This is a beautiful house with multiple views of Barton Pond. It was designed with interesting angles to fit the lot and make the house the same distance at every point from the jagged line where the land slopes down to Barton Pond.
Vernon Downs, a development in southwest Ann Arbor including Weldon, Winsted, Waverly, and Hanover streets, platted in 1954. It consists of pleasant one-story houses with full basements. Paved driveways were a selling point.
410 Sunset, Dorothy and Hawley Barnard, 1954. This house is built on a hill so both floors are on ground level on one side. The top floor, reached from front entrance, is the main living area, while the lower level was used as a recreation room but designed so it could be converted to two efficiency apartments. A balcony on the back allows for a view over the city.
824 Colliston, Paul and Emily Skeels, 1955. Built on a large Barton Hills lot over an acre in size, the house has views of the woods from windows on every side.
433 Huronview Boulevard, Merlyn and Margaret Keller, 1955. In this house, the main living space is centered around the living room. The kitchen had a moveable counter to make it more accessible. The joists were left exposed and spaced at random and the walls stained gray instead of painted.
617 Stratford Drive, Darrel and Jenny Campbell, 1957. Built with modern materials (wood, glass and masonry), with floor to ceiling windows in the living room, the house was a great place for the five Campbell children to grow up in. Extra space was gained with a balcony across the front and a basement that was partially above ground. “I always loved everything about the house,” said their son Keith Campbell who credits it with influencing his career choice and design preferences. It is believed to have been designed by Alton Balta, who worked at CRW.
80 Underdown Road, Lawrence and Margaret Prakken, 1958. This house is a modern rectangle. A later addition in back obscures some of the modernist look.
2640 Parkridge, Kyle and Pauline Fuller, 1966. It was designed as requested, with the kitchen as a meeting place in the middle of the open area on the first floor. It was chosen to be on Women’s City Club homes tour in 1967.
Public School Commissions
Eberbach Elementary School remodeling, 1220 Wells, 1955-57. Eberbach was built in 1918 and was never a good building according to people familiar with it who claimed that during the years of use it got “outright dangerous.” The basement, although it had only a sand floor, was used for an auditorium. It closed in 1951 and its students transferred to Burns Park school. In 1955 Colvin and Robinson were hired to transform the boarded up former school building into the School Board offices, which the school system paid for with the money acquired when they sold the old high school. Pictures of the work show cloak closets and blackboards being removed, while taking the walls down to the studs. It was used for 15 years before being torn down.
Plan for Fire Hazard Alterations in Public Schools, 1960.
Bader Elementary School, 2775 Bedford, 1965. It was built as three units, one for the lower grades, another for the upper grades, and the third for office, gym, and auditorium.
Washtenaw County Intermediate School District Administrative Building, 1819 Wagner Rd., 1968.
Byrant Elementary School, 2150 Santa Rosa Drive, 1972.
Additions and remodels. The idea was not to make a statement, but to blend with the original structures, which to remarkable degree was accomplished. Projects included Northside, Perry, Pioneer, Angell, Tappan, Stone, Dicken, Mack, and Freeman schools.
University of Michigan Commissions
“Colvin, Robinson, and Wright were local and handy and gave good service,” explains Fred Mayer, retired university architect, “but they didn’t do any landmark building.” For major buildings U-M hired architects with a national reputation.
Automotive Engineering, fuel mixing, 1955.
Frieze Building, 105 S. State, 1957. In 1953 the Ann Arbor School Board sold the Ann Arbor high school building to the university. Four years later CRW did a major remodel and addition that incorporated land to the east over what had been Thayer Street. When Colvin retired, he recalled that the Frieze building was the largest project of his career.
North Campus Switching Station, 1957.
Aerospace Engineering – wind tunnel, propulsion lab, pumping station, plasma research, power plant. 1955. Plasma Research Lab, 1961.
Alpha Chi Omega Sorority, 1735 Washtenaw, 1960. Labeled contemporary, it was built in an L-shape in order to accommodate a walnut tree and also for maximum privacy. It had glass walls and an impressive view from street.
Administrative Service, 1966, 1971.
Sports Service, 1971, demolished 1989.
Track and Tennis, 1974.
North Campus Recreation, 1976.
Additions and remodeling. Projects included the Administrative Services Building, Hatcher Library, Henderson House, Medical Science II, Michigan League, Michigan Union, Natural Science, University High School / Education School, and Transportation Service Building.
Houses of Worship Commissions
West Side Methodist, 900 S. Seventh, 1951. Education Building, 1959. The steepness of the pointed roof on the church makes it traditional yet modern. A few years later the congregation asked Colvin and Robinson to design an education building to the north. In 1986 the church connected the two buildings using a plan drawn up by one of their members.
First Presbyterian Kuizenga addition, 1956. Increased post-world War II growth meant the church needed more Sunday school space as well as more parking, so they negotiated with the sorority behind them to buy land and hired Colvin and Robinson, who were both members of the church, to design the addition. The new wing was named for a former pastor.
Work around the City
Orpheum Theater into Faber’s Fabric, 1960. CRW took a 1913 building and made it look new both inside and out with modern glass windows and aluminum grille work and panels.
Coca Cola bottling plant, 1935 S. industrial, 1961.
Federal Mogul, 3990 Research Drive, 1961. CRW, strong supporters of the concept of a research park, built its first building in the middle of the park. It was very modern with a folded plane roof and tall windows.
Mayer-Scharier Office Supply, 110-112 S. Main, 1962. When Mayer-Scharier expanded into the building next door, CRW remodeled both the interior and exterior giving the 1908 building a modern look and connected both parts in front with recessed plate glass windows.
Research Park Rental Facility, 1850 State St. 1963. This was built to rent to individual companies that didn’t need a whole building. It was torn down in 2015 for a hotel.
Bolgos Dairy, 3535 Plymouth, 1965. It was an Interesting shape with a plastic carousel roof and gull wing glass. It is no longer there.
Washtenaw County Road Commission Headquarters, 555 N. Zeeb, 1966. This was built to replace the old road commission building on Washington Street in Ann Arbor that was in bad shape and not ideally located to serve the rest of the county. It is still in use although in 2000 a new building was built in front of it for the offices.
Pauline Plaza, 1901-1905 Pauline, 1967.
Ann Arbor News Building addition, 1936 E. Huron, 1967. The addition fits perfectly with the original Art Deco building designed by Albert Kahn in 1936.
YM-YWCA, 350 S. Fifth, 1967. A modern style building it was the site for many community activities. Iyengar Yoga was introduced to the country here. It has since been torn down.
Washington and Fourth carport, 1967. Made with reinforced concrete with concrete panels and face brick to blend with the Sheraton-Ann Arbor Motor Inn which it was directly attached to. The newspaper described it as “distinctive inside, adding that it was well-lit and had bright interior décor.”

 

Buildings