Here at 815 South University Avenue stands the oldest building on the University of Michigan's campus, a white clapboard house serving as the President's official residence. This is the official residence of the President of the University of Michigan and the oldest building on the university campus. It is one of the original four houses built for faculty when the university moved from Detroit to Ann Arbor in 1840.
Builder Harpin Lum constructed those four houses at a total cost of $26,900 (equivalent to $817,291 in 2024). The houses may have been designed by campus architect Alexander J. Davis, though there is no record of the actual architect. The President's House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
Until 1852 the university was governed by a faculty committee; Henry Philip Tappan became the first president in 1852 and moved into this then-vacant house. In 1863 Erastus Otis Haven succeeded Tappan and added a single-story kitchen and a third story; Haven was succeeded in 1871. Stand here and feel how this house has served faculty and presidents for generations of the university.
Beyond the porch, central campus stretches out, framed by the streets that have watched this house endure since 1840.