Architecture & design
Elijah E. Myers
1832–1909 · architect
Architect of the Michigan, Texas and Colorado state capitols, who ran his national practice from Detroit for nearly four decades.
- Born
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 76- Detroit years
- 1872–1909
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Myers won the competition for the new Michigan State Capitol in Lansing in 1872 and moved his family to Detroit that year to oversee the work. He stayed for the rest of his life, running from Detroit one of the busiest government-building practices in the country. His domed, classical capitol for Michigan (completed 1879) led to commissions for the Texas State Capitol in Austin and the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, the Idaho territorial capitol and buildings as far away as Mexico and Brazil. In the Detroit area he designed Harper Hospital (1883, demolished 1977), the Helen Newberry Nurses Home (1898), Plymouth Congregational Church and the huge Eastern Michigan Asylum in Pontiac. He favored Victorian Gothic and Neoclassical styles and was known as a tough competitor. He died at his Detroit home in 1909 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Highlights
- Michigan State Capitol in Lansing (1872–1879)
- Texas State Capitol (1881–1888) and Colorado State Capitol
- Designed Detroit's Harper Hospital (1883) and Helen Newberry Nurses Home (1898)
- Only known portrait hangs in the Elijah Myers room of the Michigan Capitol
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1898
Helen Newberry Nurses Home
His surviving Detroit building, a former nurses' residence near the medical center.
Worked here · 1883
Harper Hospital (1883 building)
Demolished
The hospital building he designed, demolished in 1977; Harper University Hospital continues in newer buildings.
Buried here · 1909
Woodlawn Cemetery (Detroit)
His burial place.