The Arthur Miller house at 439 S. Division St. in Ann Arbor on April 18, 2024.

ANN ARBOR, MI — The University of Michigan has announced plans to renovate and repurpose two historic houses, making them part of its Central Campus in Ann Arbor.

That includes a house at 308 E. Madison St. where World War II hero Raoul Wallenberg lived as a UM student in the 1930s and a house at 439 S. Division St. where famous playwright Arthur Miller lived as a UM student in the 1930s.

UM’s board of regents is expected to approve the renovation project at its meeting Thursday, May 15.

The estimated cost is $8 million with funding to come from university reserves.

Ann Arbor historians have advocated for preserving both houses.

The Wallenberg house will be moved nearly half a mile to a site next to the Miller house, UM Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Geoffrey Chatas wrote in a memo to regents, recommending proceeding with the project.

The Arthur Miller house at 439 S. Division St. in Ann Arbor on April 18, 2024.

The two houses will be connected by a new 845-square-foot addition with a shared elevator for accessibility, he said.

Both houses are expected to undergo full renovations to address deferred maintenance and code compliance issues. The combined and renovated houses will provide the university with flexible administrative and dry research spaces, Chatas said.

The eight-bedroom house at 439 S. Division St. is where Miller first resided when he arrived on campus in 1934, before he went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, penning “Death of a Salesman,” and marrying Marilyn Monroe. The house sits empty next to UM’s Institute for Social Research and UM has had no takers for it after several years of trying to get someone to save it and move it to a different location.

The Arthur Miller house at 439 S. Division St. in Ann Arbor on April 18, 2024.

The other house at 308 E. Madison St. that will be moved is where Wallenberg rented a room when he first arrived in Ann Arbor in 1931 as a UM freshman.

Coming from a prominent Swedish family, he delighted in Ann Arbor’s small-town charms and tree-lined streets as he started his journey studying architecture.

He graduated with honors in 1935 and went on to become a Swedish diplomat of sorts and famously helped save tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust during World War II, risking his life going into Hungary and creating diplomatic passes and safe houses where Jewish people could live under Sweden’s protection.

The Arthur Miller house at 439 S. Division St. in Ann Arbor on April 18, 2024.

He was taken by Soviet forces in 1945 and never heard from again, but his memory as a WWII hero has been preserved via movies, books, statues and in other ways, including a memorial plaza on the UM campus.

The modest house where Wallenberg first lived as a UM student has an Ann Arbor historic building marker on it, designating it the “Raoul Wallenberg Residence.” Of the handful of places he lived as a UM student, it’s the last still standing.

UM wants to move it to make way for a new campus housing development on the block. The development plans require either the house’s relocation or demolition this summer, Chatas said.

In order to relocate the house, a basement and foundation need to be constructed early this summer for placement of the relocated house, he said. The project scope also includes architectural, electrical and mechanical work, with Frederick Fisher Partners designing the project.

The Arthur Miller house at 439 S. Division St. in Ann Arbor on April 18, 2024.

A phased construction schedule is planned to minimize disruption to the academic calendar with construction to be completed in fall 2026, Chatas said.