Newberry Hall is a fine example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture and is significant to the history of the University of Michigan. Designed by the Detroit architectural firm of Spier & Rohns for the Student Christian Association, the building was completed in 1891 at a cost of $40,000 and named in honor of railroad magnate John S. Newberry. The building also housed the YMCA and was built for one of the earliest Christian student organizations in the nation. Newberry Hall was sold to the university and converted into the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology in 1937, renamed for Francis W. Kelsey, the professor who initiated the fine Near East antiquities collection now housed in the building.
