St. Mary Student Chapel changed its name to St. Mary Student Parish in the early 1970's. The parish is currently run by Jesuit priests.

More information

• 331-339 Thompson Street: St. Mary's Student Chapel, Ann Arbor District Library

The building was designed in 1924 by Albert J. Rousseau, professor of architecture at the University of Michigan from 1917 to 1931. Rousseau was trained in his native city of Quebec and at the Ecole Nationale et Speciale des Beaux Arts in Paris. Basically an innovator, Rousseau made no attempt to camouflage with fake buttresses and arches the modern construction methods used in the chapel. The half-story basement contains rooms for social and recreational use, while the main floor houses a plain auditorium. The present fittings of the chapel are not original. The exterior has a strong Art Deco flavor, note particularly the large stone crosses and windows. Rousseau was also the architect of the facade of the Land Title Building at 106 North Fourth Avenue, as well as one of the architects of Ann Arbor's Art Deco Masonic Temple, demolished in 1975, which had similar brick work and decoration.