Stefan T. Vail Cooperative House

{{Use American English|date=September 2025}} The '''Stefan T. Vail Cooperative House''' (or '''Vail House''') is a housing cooperative for college students at the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College, and Eastern Michigan University located at 602 Lawrence Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A member of the Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) in Ann Arbor, Vail house is named after Stefan Valavanis, a former ICC President who became a notable economist. It is one of only two known adobe buildings in Ann Arbor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Wineberg|first=Marjorie Reade and Susan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgbknrVoxgUC&q=historical+houses+ann+arbor|title=HISTORIC BUILDINGS ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN|date=1992|publisher=Ann Arbor Historic District Commission |isbn=9781882574001 |language=en}}</ref> thumb|250px|right|Stefan T. Vail House

==History== The building proper was constructed in 1848 by the family of Thomas and Margaret Mitchell, completed in the American Greek Revival style which typifies many Ann Arbor-area homes of the period.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas and Margaret Mitchell House, (Gregory House) 1848 |url=https://aadl.org/buildings_hhaa072 |website=Ann Arbor District Library |access-date=23 July 2024}}</ref> It has been recognized by the Ann Arbor Historical Commission; one of the pillars on the front porch bears a plaque which identifies it as the Hubbell Gregory House. Gregory married the Mitchell's daughter, and his descendants lived there until 1914 when his daughter Jennie Gregory died.<ref name=":0" /> Afterwards it became the residence of the family of Horace Greely Prettyman, who owned the Ann Arbor Press and White Swan Laundry.<ref name=":0" /> They added the porte cochere at this time.<ref name=":0" /> The Prettyman family lived here until around 1945, after which Abbie Schaefer took it over and ran it as a rooming house called Abby House.<ref name=":0" />

In 1960 it was purchased by the Inter-Cooperative Council and opened as women's cooperative housing in the fall of 1961. In 1991, it became the only all-female co-op in the ICC system, though today it is open to any gender.<ref name=":0" />

In addition to being one of the oldest houses in Ann Arbor, Vail House also boasts a magnificent bur oak tree in its front yard which has been estimated to be over two hundred years old.

==Stefan T. Valavanis== Vail House was named for Stefan T. Vail (or Stephanos Valavanis),<ref name=":0" /> who was an ICC member and president in the mid-1950s. While at the University of Michigan, Stefan Vail helped to devise the financial structure of the ICC.<ref>[http://www.icc.coop/houses/vail/vail2.html Stephan T. Vail Cooperative House History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070320065230/http://www.icc.coop/houses/vail/vail2.html |date=2007-03-20 }}</ref> After having earned his doctorate in economics, Stefan Vail was an assistant professor of economics at Harvard University from 1956 to 1958.<ref>{{cite book|last=Valavanis|first=Stefan|authorlink=Stefan Valavanis|title=Econometrics: An introduction to maximum likelihood methods|editor=Alfred H. Conrad (from Vail's manuscript)|location=New York|publisher=McGraw–Hill Book Company, Inc.|year=1959|series=Economics handbook series}}</ref> While camping near Mount Olympus in Greece, Stefan Vail was shot and killed by an army deserter who mistook him for a pursuing officer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1958/7/31/hyder-rollins-dies-economist-murdered-phyder/|title=Hyder Rollins Dies; Economist Murdered | News | the Harvard Crimson}}</ref> His death was called a "tragedy" by his senior colleague at the Harvard Economics Department, Seymour Harris, who wrote that Valavanis was "brilliant, imaginative, and a first–class scholar and teacher"; according to Seymour, Valavanis's econometrics textbook had "pedagogical strength", proceeding "more by statements of problems and examples than by the development of mathematical proofs".<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Harris|editor-first1=Seymour|chapter=Editor's preface|pages=vii–viii|last=Valavanis|first=Stefan|title=Econometrics: An introduction to maximum likelihood methods|edition=edited by Alfred H. Conrad (from Vail's manuscript) and posthumously published|location=New York|publisher=McGraw–Hill Book Company, Inc.|year=1959|series=Economics handbook series}}</ref> Soon after, the ICC Board of Directors voted to name the next house they purchased after Vail, in recognizing his contributions to the ICC and to economics.<ref>[http://icc.coop/houses/vail/vail3.html Stephan T. Vail Cooperative House History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124175529/http://www.icc.coop/houses/vail/vail3.html |date=2010-11-24 }}</ref> In 1979, European members of the Econometric Society contributed papers to a volume commemorating Valavanis.<ref> {{cite book|title=Proceedings of the Econometric Society European meeting 1979 (Athens, September 3–6): Selected econometric papers in memory of Stefan Valavanis|editor=E. G. Chratis|series=Contributions to economic analysis|volume=138|year=1981|pages=xvi+444|isbn=0-444-86184-X}} </ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://icc.coop/prospective/houses/vail.php Vail house website] * [https://pjhsymphonyorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/paul-the-album-live-raw Paul J. Huntington Symphony Orchestra: Paul, the Album] (music reflecting contemporary culture at Vail House)

Category:Cooperatives at the University of Michigan Category:Houses in Ann Arbor, Michigan Category:Greek Revival houses in Michigan Category:Residential buildings in Michigan Category:Houses completed in 1848 Category:1961 establishments in Michigan Category:Adobe buildings and structures