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Building, Wayne State

Prentis Building and DeRoy Auditorium Complex

Still standing, photographed 2011

Prentis Building, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Prentis Building and DeRoy Auditorium Complex has stood on Cass Avenue in Wayne State. Who built it, what makes it special and how to see it for yourself.

On the map

More photos of Prentis Building and DeRoy Auditorium Complex

DeRoy Auditorium, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Prentis Building and garden plaza, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
DeRoy Auditorium, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What is there now

Standing

We checked building permits, sales, listings and the city's blight and demolition files on October 25, 2026. Nothing new at this address in the last two years.

The story

By Victoria Jackson, Editor in Chief Updated

Prentis Building and DeRoy Auditorium Complex is one of the places that gives Wayne State its character.

The National Register of Historic Places listed it in 2011.

Go see it at 5203 Cass Avenue. Photos never get the scale right.

The Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex consists of two educational buildings, the Meyer and Anna Prentis Building and the University Auditorium (formerly the DeRoy Auditorium), located respectively at 5201 and 5203 Cass Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, on the campus of Wayne State University.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Where it is

5203 Cass Avenue

On this map

  1. Prentis Building and DeRoy Auditorium Complex This place
  2. Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium Next door
  3. Williams C. Rands House 260 ft
  4. Detroit Public Library 0.1 mi
  5. Detroit Public Library Main Branch 0.1 mi
  6. Mackenzie Hall (Webster Hall) 0.1 mi
  7. Herman Strasburg House 0.1 mi
  8. Chatsworth Suites 0.1 mi
  9. Chatsworth Apartments 0.1 mi

Street map from OpenStreetMap contributors

Around the block

It is in Wayne State. See the neighborhood's homes, pros and story.

Photo credits

Every photo on this page is used under its license, named here with its author and a link to the original.

  1. Prentis Building, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  2. DeRoy Auditorium, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  3. Prentis Building and garden plaza, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  4. DeRoy Auditorium, on the Wayne State University campus, Midtown Detroit, Michigan, 2011 Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  5. Photo of Robertson Hall at Princeton University, 2004 Photo: JosephBarillari at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Facts only, gathered from these sources. The story above is written by Rebuild Detroit. Every photo names its author and license where it appears.