Building 521 (University of Utah Medical Center, School of Medicine)

"The School of Medicine: Building 521." Presentation of the history of the School of Medicine (Building 521) at the University of Utah, by Keely Mruk, Research Assistant, School of Medicine Historic Preservation. Project funded by the Office of the Senior Vice President of Health Sciences in partnership with the Eccles Health Sciences Library and the America West Center.

The School of Medicine building 521 The University of Utah Medical Center, shortly after opening in 1965 (1). 1. “Medical Center (1965),” History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. After transitioning to a four-year program in 1944, the College of Medicine followed a “brains not bricks” motto, prioritizing faculty appointments over funds for buildings (1). Recruited faculty understood, though occasionally lamented, the trade-off. Dr. Max Wintrobe remarked that Salt Lake County General Hospital – where much of the school’s clinical teaching and research took place - looked exactly like a “17th century pest house” (2). Meanwhile biochemical research was being carried out in converted horse stables (3). The earliest planning and discussion for a unified medical center – containing space for teaching, clinical practice, and research – dates to this postwar period (1946 – 1947) (4). Left: “Maxwell M. Wintrobe, M.D. Ph.D.” 1969. History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1. Interview with Philip Price, 6. Interview conducted by Robert Archibald,1969. University of Utah School of Medicine. Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Interview with Dr. M. M. Wintrobe, 4. Interview conducted by Leonard Jarcho, July 1 and 9, 1970. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Interview with Dr. Emil L. Smith, 170. Interview conducted by Robert Miller, May 16, 1970. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 4. Interview with Dr. Emil L. Smith, 93, 128. Interview conducted by Robert Miller, May 16, 1970. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. The University awarded architecture firm Ashton, Evans, and Brazier the contract for the design and construction of the medical center (1). B. E. ‘Bud’ Brazier, who had previously worked on the construction of the Cancer Research Building, was the lead architect. The Cancer Research Building was slated to be one ‘wing’ of a larger medical complex. However, when Governor J. Bracken Lee slashed the University’s Left: “B.E. Brazier,” December 10, 1953. MSS C 400 Salt Lake Tribune Negative Collection, Marriot Library Special Collections, budget in 1949, the College of University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. Medicine could only afford to Right: “Cancer Research Building - Shot 1,” April 17, 1951. MSS C 400 Salt Lake Tribune Negative Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. construct the Cancer Research Building (2). The rest of the complex would have to wait. 1. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, September 1, 1949. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, March 24, 1949, 698 – 699. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. On November 9, 1955, University President A. Ray Olpin; Regents George M. Fister, Clarence Bamberger, and Thorpe B. Isaacson; and a number of state legislators toured Salt Lake County General Hospital (1). Dr. M. M. Wintrobe and Acting Dean Philip Price guided them through the College of Medicine’s facilities. The gathered men noted the “striking contrast between the condition and location of the physical facilities and the outstanding international reputation” of the College (2). Seeing that the current plant was “wholly unsuitable” for supporting the continued growth and prestige of the College, the gathered group resolved to support the funding and construction of a new medical center. The University of Utah Board of Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. Regents subsequently endorsed this recommendation at their next meeting. Above: “Salt Lake County General Hospital (1948).” March 2, 1948. History of the Health Sciences 1. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, November 16, 1955, 116 - 119. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, November 16, 1955, 117. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. With support Administration secured and the from University state legislature, planning of the medical center resumed. In October of 1956, the Board of Regents approved a new contract with Ashton, Evans, and Brazier for the design of all phases of the Medical Center (1). Like before, B. E. ‘Bud’ Brazier led the project. As a part of the planning phase, Brazier, Philip Price (now officially dean), and other men representing Left: “Price, Dr. Philip B.; Brazier, B. E.; U. campus planning and hospital administration of U. Medical Building Model - Shot 1,” toured the medical centers at the University of December 12, 1960. MSS C 400 Salt Lake Tribune Negative Collection, Marriot Washington in Seattle and the University of California – Los Angeles in the summer of 1957 (2). Later that year, Brazier toured additional medical centers in Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Missouri (3). Mississippi, Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, October 8, 1956, 91 - 92. See also, Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, June 10, 1957, 353. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Dean’s Bulletin - June 6, 1957, Philip Price. Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Dean’s Bulletin – July 18, 1957, Philip Price. Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. As they toured other medical centers, Price and other faculty became increasingly dissatisfied with Brazier’s original plan (seen to the left). Martin Brixen, campus architect at the time, rather tactfully described this original complex as “not a great building, from an architectural standpoint” (1). To convince Brazier to change approaches to the Medical Center, Brixen brought in architect William W. Wurster as a consultant. At the time, Wurster was the dean of the architecture school at UC Berkeley and oversaw campus planning there. His other notable projects include the Center for Above: This is the original design proposed for the Medical Center, discussed more on the following page. “Model of the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Proposed University of Utah Medical Center,” 1957. History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health at Stanford and the redevelopment of Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco (2). Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1. Interview with Martin Brixen, 27. Interview conducted by Everett L. Cooley, December 9, 12, and 19, 1988. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Peters, Richard C. “W. W. Wurster.” Journal of Architectural Education vol. 33, no. 2 (1979): 36–41. The meeting was a classic contest between the desire of form, or beauty, and the pragmatics of function. Wurster argued that “the Architect should start with a preconceived form, eliminating considerations of practicality, questioning only what form should be seen against the mountains, to work backwards, as seemingly had been done with the Parthenon” (1). While Brazier described himself as a ‘Doubting Thomas,’ he ultimately agreed to “turn three or four teams loose on this new approach” and “give it a whirl” despite his concerns with cost (2). Brazier, Wurster, and Left: William W. Wurster. Photo other attendees did manage to agree on a few other taken from Peters, Richard C. “W. W. aspects of design at this meeting. They settled on using Wurster.” Journal of Architectural bricks to promote a visual “kinship” with the rest of campus, Education vol. 33, no. 2 (1979): 36– minimize the western exposure to keep the building cool, and divide the building into three sections to reflect the three goals of the medical school (basic science research, clinical research, and teaching) (3). 41: 39. 1. Design Committee Meeting Minutes, 4. August 22, 1958. Acc 296, Box 2, Folder 3. University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Design Committee Meeting Minutes, 6. August 22, 1958. Acc 296, Box 2, Folder 3. University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Design Committee Meeting Minutes, 2 -3. August 22, 1958. Acc 296, Box 2, Folder 3. University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. After this meeting, Brazier and Art Redgate, another architect, established a temporary office on campus to conduct meetings with medical faculty. As Martin Brixen recalls, from there, “They'd conduct meetings on a daily, even hourly, basis with the medical people and they designed the building, redesigned it, and produced the working drawings” (1). For Dean Philip Price, these meetings were one of the most unique things about the Medical Center. While touring other medical centers, Price was centralized, struck by top-down how planning much unhappiness, efforts generated. According to him, the “democratic methods” employed Above: Architects rendering of the redesigned Medical Center. Note how the western face of the building (which overlooks the valley) features no windows, minimizing sun exposure. Photo taken from “State: Not Fancy Just Function,” January 23, 1959. The Utah Statesman, 2, Salt Lake City, Utah. here were “a slower method but by far the better method because it meant that the people who would ultimately use the space were the ones who helped plan it. It was not as large as many other medical centers, but it was a good deal more carefully planned” (2). 1. Interview with Martin Brixen, 28. Interview conducted by Everett L. Cooley, December 9, 12, and 19, 1988. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Interview with Philip Price, 12. Interview conducted by Robert Archibald,1969. University of Utah School of Medicine. Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. Funding support came from several different places. The state pledged $4 million dollars to the Medical Center (1). Leland Flint, a University of Utah regent and local business man, headed the public facing pledge drive; an advertising firm estimated that the business community would be able to contribute at least $3.5 million (2). Other sources of construction funds include grants from the Eleanor Left: Left: ”Leland B. Flint – Shot 2,” January Roosevelt Foundation and the United States Public Health 25, 1963. . MSS C 400 Salt Lake Tribune Service (3). Ken Castleton, before becoming dean in 1962, Negative Collection, Marriot Library Special solicited support from physicians and other medical Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. professionals throughout the city and state (4). Alumni were also hugely supportive of the new facility. For instance, each member of the class of 1944 pledge $1000 (5). As the project ran over budget (ultimately around $16 million, rather than the proposed $10 million), the state legislature and private donors contributed additional funds to make up the shortfall (6). 1. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, March 11, 1957, 253. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, November 10, 1958, 253 and April 14, 1958, 321. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, February 11, 1957, 224 and Board of Regents Meeting Minutes September 11, 1961, 44 - 47. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 4. Interview with Ken Castleton, 21 – 23. Interview conducted by Everett L. Cooley, September 12, 1983. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 5. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, July 8, 1957, 26. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 6. Executive Committee of the College of Medicine Meeting Minutes, January 7, 1963 and May 27, 1963. Acc 0937, Box 57, Folder 4. Louis S. Goodman Papers, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. With funding secured and a new building design in place, construction began in 1962. Dean Price retired in September and Dr. Kenneth B. Castleton officially assumed the office in October (1). Though he missed the long planning period of the Medical Center, Castleton oversaw the period Left: ”Kenneth B. Castleton, M.D. Ph.D.” undated. of construction. As he described it, by History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. the time he took office, “there was a Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. hole in the ground” (2). Castleton had a Salt Lake City, Utah. long relationship with the University; he completed his early medical studies there, taught clinical skills after returning to Utah, and as previously mentioned, solicited donations from the medical community (3). 1. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, October 8, 1962, 74 - 75. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Interview with Ken Castleton, 36. Interview conducted by Everett L. Cooley, September 12, 1983. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Interview with Ken Castleton, 21 – 23. Interview conducted by Everett L. Cooley, September 12, 1983. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. Contracts for work on the Medical Center were awarded to several local companies: Christiansen and Paulsen were the general contractors; Interstate Electric Company handled electrical work; Jelco, Inc. completed the mechanical work; and Otis Elevator Company was responsible for the elevators (1). The building’s opening was delayed somewhat due to unexpected settling (2). Castleton describes the period of construction as “a very stormy one” with the building’s sinking in particular as “very distressing” (3). Thankfully, the Above: “Medical Center Construction (1962 – 1965),” History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. building suffered no structural damage from the issue. Prepakt Co., a Seattle-based company that specialized in ‘muckjacking’ – piping a mixture of sand, cement, water, and other materials underneath a building to raise it – was brought out to solve the issue (4). Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1. Board of Regents Meeting Minutes, November 20, 137 – 138 and January 8, 1962, 196. Acc 0030, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Executive Committee of the College of Medicine Meeting Minutes, November 4, 1963. Acc 0937, Box 57, Folder 4. Louis S. Goodman Papers, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Interview with Ken Castleton, 36. Interview conducted by Everett L. Cooley, September 12, 1983. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 4. “U. Project Safe As Soil Settles,” October 10, 1963. Salt Lake Tribune, 23, Salt Lake City, Utah. “Work Under Way to Raise Building,” October 18, 1963. Deseret News, 25, Salt Lake City, Utah. The University continued its commitment to radiobiology research with the new building. One particularly unique feature was the counting chamber, installed underneath the new Medical Center. Counting chambers are typically underground rooms with thick steel walls. They block the earth’s background level of radiation, allowing researchers to Left: Cranes moving obtain precise measures of the level of radiation present in an organism. steel plates for the Steel produced after 1945 – when the Trinity Test blast took place – counting chamber. contains higher than previous amounts of radiation (1). Therefore, Untitled, 1963. P0305, University Photo precise counting chambers must be constructed from steel produced Collection, Marriot before 1945. The University of Utah’s counting chamber came from the Library Special USS Indiana, pictured to the right. Constructed in 1939, the Indiana was Collections, University a South Dakota class battleship that served in the Pacific Theater during of Utah, Salt Lake World War II (2). The U.S. Navy sold the Indiana for scrap in 1963; 210 tons of its hull then made their way to Salt Lake for the Medical Center (3). In 1988, the counting chamber was disassembled and shipped to Hanford, WA, for use by the Department of Energy to monitor the health of workers at their plutonium plant (4). City, Utah. 1. Steel is produced through the Bessemer process, which draws in air from the atmosphere. Nuclear weapons leave trace amounts of radioactive isotopes in the atmosphere. Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the United States ended in 1963 with the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. 2. Timothy P. Lynch, “A Historically Significant Shield for In Vivo Measurements,” Health Physics vol 93, no. 2 (2007): 119 – 123. 3. Ibid. 4. Mary Chacas, “U of U Medical School’s ‘Iron Room’ Moves On – Professors Recall Monitoring History,” July 29, 1988. University of Utah Health Care Office of Public Affairs and Marketing, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. One final issue resurfaced before the building could be opened – that of air conditioning. The Design Committee struggled to balance methods of temperature and sun control with the building’s tight budget (1). Ultimately, they decided that only interior rooms would be air conditioned; rooms with windows would not (2). When Dr. C. Hardin Branch (chair of the Department of Psychiatry) heard of this plan, he immediately wrote to the hospital administrator: “To me it is unthinkable that we would construct in a desert in Left: ”C. Hardin Branch, M.D.,” this day a hospital without air conditioning for the undated. History of the Health Sciences patients. While we all admire the endurance and Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health fortitude of our pioneer ancestors, to cling to such a Sciences Library, University of Utah. standard under these circumstances is purposeless Salt Lake City, Utah. atavism” (3). Branch’s letter is credited with forcing the initiative to find the $40,000 to air condition patient rooms. 1. Design Committee Meeting Minutes, August 22 and October 23 1958; January 30 and August 7, 1959. Acc 296, Box 2, Folder 3. University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Ibid. 3. Letter excerpted from The Gift of Health Goes On: A History of the University of Utah Medical Center, Office of Community Relations, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (1990): 50. The Medical Center opened on July 10, 1965 (1). It was a seven story, 500,000 square foot E-shaped building. The three ‘arms’ of the E ran east-west. The northernmost arm contained a 220-bed hospital. The center arm contained the clinical departments, and the southern arm contained the basic science departments. A concrete lattice ran the length of the first floor on the western exposure; no exposed windows ran on this front. Florence Strong cut the ribbon opening the facility. For over 25 years, she worked in the dean’s office as a “constant friend, advisor, confidante, and student advocate” (2). Students found the new facility a Above: Aerial view of the University of Utah Medical Center. “Medical Center (1965),” History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health great improve over the old county hospital, with its “leaking ceilings, the Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. panhandlers, and the spartan accommodations” (3). However, they did not love everything about the building. While the Medical Center was “nearly everything [they] had hoped for,” students remarked that “it seems incredible that a building situated with such a panoramic view of the valley should have so few windows opening onto it and those that do are often covered with prosaic concrete lattice” (4). Students also griped over slow elevators and minimal parking (5). 1. “For Utah: Top Medic School,” December 7, 1965. The Salt Lake Tribune, 10, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. Medicine Man 1967, 5, University of Utah College of Medicine. History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Medicine Man 1967, 6, University of Utah College of Medicine. History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 4. Ibid. 5. Medicine Man 1969, 7 – 8, University of Utah College of Medicine. History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. Faculty had similarly mixed feelings about the new facility. Dean Ken Castleton swore that for the first several years in the building, “we had room to spare, we really did…We were rattling around in that building, no question about it” (1). However, his office received no shortage of space requests after the building’s opening. When the College of Nursing moved to their own building in 1968, space became available on the building’s A level. Faculty needed space for research, their secretaries, their post-docs, and everything else ‘urgently’ and ‘immediately’ (2). Philip Price, though retired explained the needed space as a result of the long planning process: “…by the time the building was actually occupied, Above: Philip Price, Richard L. Evans (regent), and Ken Castleton at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the Medical Center in 1962. “Philip Price MD, Regent Richard L. Evans and Kenneth Castleton MD (1965) History of the Health Sciences Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences the school had grown. Its needs had grown. So you had a period of eight or ten years of growth that by the time the center was occupied, represented unmet needs, so no wonder the center seemed to be too small when they moved into it” (3). Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1. Interview with Ken Castleton, 38. Interview conducted by Everett L. Cooley, September 12, 1983. Everett L. Cooley Oral History Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2. These requests fill several folders. Acc 239, Box 41, University Archives and Records Management, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 3. Interview with Philip Price, 13 - 14. Interview conducted by Robert Archibald,1969. University of Utah School of Medicine. Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. Within another ten years, plans were in place to expand the Medical Center. In 1975, the Utah State Legislature approved a $50 million appropriation to expand the existing medical center (1). An accompanying fund-raising campaign added an additional $10 million. While the expansion originally called for extensive renovation to the existing Medical Center, a study of the building’s earthquake safety revealed that it would likely not meet the state’s uniform building code for hospitals (2). The aesthetic plan was scrapped in favor of reinforcing the existing building and ensuring the security of the hospital expansion. The Medical Above: The University Hospital expansion under construction. Note the untouched Medical Center, like the Cancer Research Building, ultimately escaped Center in the background, “University Hospital (1979),” History of the Health Sciences undergoing any major renovations over the course of its life. Collection, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Instead, fixes were deployed as needed, and funding new Utah. : constructions remained the School’s priority. Still, the original Medical Center building represents the fulfillment of a “Manifest Destiny” articulated by Dean Philip Price in 1958: the provision of high-quality medical care for Utah and the intermountain region. 1. “A Sound Investment for Utah,” February 27, 1975. Deseret News, 5, Provo, Utah. 2. The Gift of Health Goes On: A History of the University of Utah Medical Center, Office of Community Relations, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (1990): 80 - 85. 3. Philip Price, “A Statement Concerning the Medical Center,” 4. Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah.