YHF Markers

In 1853, two local women bagan holding Methodist services alternating from home to home. This congregation eventually became the local branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. During these early years, a member of the congregation donated a parcel of land at the corner of Buffalo and South Adams streets for church building site.

Construction of the present church structure began in 1897. This gothic structure was completed in 1904. The original gas lighting has been replaced, and the main entrance has been moved from South Adams to Buffalo Street. The names enshrined on the stained glass windows are members who were active at the time of construction.

Cornwell House

Built in 1921 by Edward and Jennie Quirk Cornwell, this handsome Tudor Revival Style home is distinctive, not only as an excellent example of its style but also because it represents the merger of two of Ypsilanti’s most prominent families, the Quirks and the Cornwells. Both families were active in business, industry, and community affairs and resided on this street: the Quirks across the street at 304 N. Huron, and the Cornwells next door at 201 N. Huron. This house was designed primarily for entertaining since Edward and Jennie were both in their fourties when they married and had no children. Many notable people were guests at the Cornwell house, including Henry Ford and Governor G. Mennen Williams, who was married to Jennie Cornwell’s niece.

Because the design of the house was too large for its 80’ x 170’ lot, the front entrance and facade were situated facing south toward the Cornwell Mansion. It was constructed of stucco spread over wooden lath and finished using the “pebble-dash” method with wooden beams, stained dark brown in the classic Tudor Style. Many of the decorative original plaster panels still exist. The panels can be seen on some of the gables and along the roofline on the south side of the house.

Jennie Cornwell lived in the house until her death in December of 1959, 2 days short of her 100th birthday. The home has had a few owners that included a social fraternity, High Scope and was divided at one time into13 rooms and apartments for student housing before the Harrington’s purchased it in the late 70’s. The main part of the house is now restored as before and is the residence of John and Pattie Harrington. It features a large foyer with a winding staircase, a living room with a marble fireplace and built-in leaded glass bookcases, original chandeliers and sconces, and the original butler’s pantry. Other areas of the home have been converted into 3 additional apartments.

Excerpted from the 2023 YHF Home Tour Booklet

1104 Pearl

120 N. Adams

The house is a wonderful example of Prairie-style residential architecture, which originated in the early 1900s and is largely credited to renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The style is defined by strong horizontal lines, rows or pairs of windows, and low-pitched roofs with oversized eaves.

Unlike Victorian architecture, Prairie-style lacks overt ornamentation and bright paint colors. The focus, instead, is on an overall sense of symmetry using geometric shapes and forms. Paint colors are muted and mimic those found in nature.

Excerpted from the YHF 2005 Home Tour booklet.

133 W. Michigan

302 Oak

This Italianate house at 302 Oak Street was built around 1858 as a simple one-and-a-half-story farmhouse. Depot Town saloonkeeper George Cady and his wife, Emma, were the first owners of record. By 1880 the house had been transformed to an Italianate. The second-floor ceilings were raised to their current height of eleven feet; additions included a bay window on the first floor, eave brackets, and front and side porches. The home’s first indoor toilets came in 1889 with the introduction of Ypsilanti’s municipal water system. A large carriage barn was erected on the site of the present garage, which was built in 1939.

Jacob Shadley, a worker a t the Michigan Ladder Company, purchased the house from the Cadys in 1912. In 1935, salesman Wallace Loeffler bought the home and converted it to apartments. This was a common move by Ypsilanti homeowners facing the economic and housing demands of the Depression and World War ll. Mr. Loeffler’s daughter, Doris Trowbridge, sold the house in 1975 and four subsequent owners added their signatures. Apartments were removed, hardwood floors refinished, plaster repaired. gardens planted. and the kitchen enlarged.

Excerpted from the YHF 2002 Home Tour booklet.

11 W. Michigan

This building was constructed in 1888 as the O. A. Ainsworth and Co. Feed Mill and Grain Storage at 514 and 516 Congress Street. Owner Oliver A. Ainsworth contracted the Detroit architectural firm of Mason & Rice to build the structure, which features striking Romanesque arch- es and a prominent roofline—both showing the influence of renowned architect H. H. Richardson. Mason & Rice also designed the neighboring Ypsilanti Savings Bank (today the Ypsilanti City Hall) and Starkweather Chapel in Highland Cemetery.

Excerpted from the YHF 2003 Home Tour booklet.

203 N. Washington

The home at 203 North Washington is more than 100 years old. The house’s eclectic and expressive characteristics are highly indicative of the Queen Anne style, popular in the 1880s and 1890s when the industrial Revolution swept the country.

As in this regal 1890 beauty, the exteriors of Queen Anne houses were often innovative and ornamental. Note the spindle work and other decorative details. Unfortunately these glorious details often proved difficult to maintain. For this reason, the Queen Anne style fell out of favor around the turn of the last century while smaller, more serious styles took center stage.

Excerpted from the YHF 2004 Home Tour booklet.

Cross Street Village

Cross Street Village, formerly Old Ypsilanti High School, was designed by Ypsilanti architect R. S. Gerganoff. The Neoclassical building was constructed in three stages. The 1917 three-story southwest wing is a tapestry-brick classroom building. The southeast wing, added in 1929, includes a central entry with a clock tower; its classroom wing closely matches the style of the 1917 structure, creating the appearance of a single building. The simple Art Deco-style two-story 1950s northwest wing, built to house industrial arts classrooms. features steel, factory-style windows.

Excerpted from the YHF 2002 Home Tour booklet.

1035 Washtenaw

Clara and Lafayette Spencer were the first owners, in 1927, of this outstanding example of a vernacular American house style: the Craftsman Bungalow. The word “bungalow” comes from a Hindi word for a house with low, sweeping lines and a wide verandah, which the British built in lndia during the 19th century. It was adapted in America, especially in California and the Midwest, in the early part of the 20th century. This particular house is called an “airplane bungalow“ because of the “cockpit,” or abbreviated second story, that projects above the “wings” of its roof.

Excerpted from the YHF 1999 Home Tour booklet.

Ypsilanti City Hall

322 Maple

This Wing and Gable Greek Revival Style house, located on lot #454 of the Norris Addition to the Village (now City) of Ypsilanti, was built c. 1850, for a local shoemaker. It sports several of the features of the Greek Revival Style, including the typical six over six windows and the front entry door with transom and wide casing. The chamfered columns and scroll sawn brackets on the side porch are of Italianate influence and were probably added in the 1860’s. The exterior chimney, of hard fired brick, was added after World War I.

Excerpted from the YHF 1995 Home Tour booklet.

Ballard-Breakey Mansion

Lot #101 of the original plat of the Village of Ypsilanti has undergone many changes since first being sold by John Stewart for $10.00, in 1827. The first simple dwelling on this land was erected by Dr. Daniel White and was expanded into a modest Federal style home of stone and brick during Marcus Lane’s ownership, 1834-1840. Arden Ballard, the next owner, began adding between 1845-1851, the Roman Doric columns that give the Breakey its grand Classical Revival style. Roman Doric columns were quite rare in Michigan at the time they were added, as was the unusual entrance, which features two inset columns on either side.

The Roman Classical and Greek Revival conversion was a popular transformation style of the times which emulated the form of classical Roman and Greek temples. During the years 1820-1855 more houses were built in, or converted to, the Greek Revival Style than any other type in America. Enthusiasm for the style was found in both archaeological and political roots and, in the case of conversions, because of the practicality of its simple-to-add wooden elements.

Excerpted from the YHF 2023 Home Tour booklet.

504 N. River

When former mayor Pete Murdock and Grace Sweeney purchased their home in 1974, it appeared to be a 1950s house, completely enveloped in 10″ aluminum siding with an enclosed front porch. But all was not as it appeared.

When a serious fire in 1978 necessitated extensive repairs, some of the past history of this house came to light. As the aluminum was removed, square nails, hand-cut beams, and four inch beveled wood siding appeared. It became evident that the house was older than previously thought. It is speculated that a small two story farmhouse was moved to the site c. 1917 and that an additional eight feet of house and a front porch were added at that time in an effort to transform the house into an American Prairie Bungalow, a style very popular then.

Bungalows, built by and for the middle class during 1910-1930, were usually low, 1-1/2 stories, solid, honest and simple. Typical features included wide, sweeping front porch roofs supported by heavy columns, exposed rafter ends and braces at the roofline, and multiple windows — often in leaded glass.

The Bungalow was a definite expression of the American Arts and Crafts movement, in full flower at the beginning of this century. During the 1950s, the house was altered again: the aluminum siding was applied, the roofline altered, and the distinctive features of the Bungalow style added years earlier were obliterated. This house, its past history marked by extraordinary style changes, has been returned to the Bungalow stage of its evolution, its roofline restored, front steps appropriately rebuilt, the front porch once again open to summer breezes.

Excerpted from the YHF 1988 Home Tour booklet.

325 E. Cross

This stately home in the Queen Anne style was built in 1894 by Jehiel J. Strang. We know nothing about him except that he liked the design well enough to build a similar house one hundred yards up the street.

The Queen Anne style, with its high-pitched roof and gables, protruding bay windows and porches, and decorative squares, diamonds, and arches, was popular from the 1870s to the 1890s. These details on the Marzullo house are easy to appreciate because the intricate three-color paint scheme draws our attention to them.

Excerpted from the YHF 2013 Home Tour booklet.

The Newton

This circa 1870 Victorian Italianate house was built by H. P. Glover for Samuel Barnard, vice president of Ypsilanti’s Peninsular Paper Company. Charles Newton, chief buyer for Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village, owned the house from the late 1920s into the 1940s.

Newton changed the exterior, adding Roman Doric columns, and its current style now veers toward Classical Revival. Newton also installed an authentic early eighteenth-century Connecticut kitchen and tavern in the basement. Henry Ford visited the house many times.

Excerpted from the YHF 2007 Home Tour booklet.

207 N. Hamilton

323 Oak

Although “Queen Anne” evokes visions of turrets and balconies, the style also includes this simpler version, characterized by high—pitched gables and the variety of decorative sidings. The front-facing gable has well preserved lattice molding and crenallated shingles. The porch pediments also represent a very popular style of that time. Happily the original oak woodwork and hardware have been maintained.

Excerpted from the YHF 1989 Home Tour booklet.

212 Washtenaw

Built as a parsonage for the First Methodist Church in 1871 at a cost of $4,000.00, the home is a wonderful example of the Italianate Style. Typical of the style, it has a low-pitched, hipped roof and extended eaves which emphasize the deep cornices set with ornate brackets.

For more than 100 years it served the congregation well: first as a parsonage, then as an activity center, and finally as a home for families and groups supported by the Church. Eventually the house became a financial burden, taxing the Church’s resources, and the congregation considered tearing it down. Fortunately, preservation-minded members of the congregation persuaded the Church to put the property up for sale and 212 Washtenaw was saved from the wrecking ball.

Excerpted from the YHF 1999 Home Tour booklet.

192 Oak

The Prairie bungalow style was popular throughout the United States from about 1890 through the early twentieth century. Typically one or one-and-a-half stories (this house is one story) and strongly horizontal, the style was characterized by a gently sloping roof with wide overhanging eaves.

Bungalows gradually lost popularity and by World War II were no longer being built. Today bungalows are once again valued for their practical designs, natural materials, and harmony within the landscape.

Excerpted from the YHF 2012 Home Tour booklet.

Gilbert Mansion

The stately Gilbert Mansion is a jewel of the Second Empire style. Built in 1861 and rehabilitated in 1988, this elaborate home boasts two towers, a slate roof, exquisite porches, and rich architectural details.

Constructed for John Gilbert, it was owned by his family until the Great Depression. The city of Ypsilanti then gained possesion of the house after Major Gilbert‘s death. It became a teen canteen in the 1940‘s and 50’s and then the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs.

The house became more and more dilapidated and was eventually closed to the public. The City slowed the deterioration by installing a new roof in the 1970’s, but it continued empty and forlorn until 1986.

Now owned and meticulously restored by Steve and Chris White of Osprey Construction, the mansion has been divided into seven unique and lovely apartments. This gracious and historic mansion was selected “Outstanding Historic Structure of 1988″ by the Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation.

Excerpted from the YHF 1991 Home Tour booklet.

709 Cambridge

An example of the English Tudor Revival Style, 709 Cambridge has the classic feature of cedar and stucco combined with brick and field stone. The scalloped siding at the peaks, arched entrance, and “Roman swoop” extension of the roofline are typical of this style. Built in 1925, it was one of the first homes in the College Heights subdivision.

Excerpted from the YHF 1996 Home Tour booklet.

Ferguson House

Ypsilanti architect R.S. Gerganoff designed this Period English Medieval-style Tudor home for Kenneth Ferguson, president of the United Stove Company in Ypsilanti. The house was completed in 1941, although Ferguson died just two years later, his family continued to live in the house until the late 1950s.

The Ferguson house features metal casement windows and a sandstone exterior topped with a slate roof. Inside, there are three fireplaces, five spacious bedrooms, including servants quarters with a separate entrance, and six bathrooms, each with its original tile and fixtures intact. Original plaster crown molding and oak floors are featured throughout. The third-floor ballroom and the finished basement, complete with a full restaurant- style bar, are an entertainer’s dream.

Between 1916 and 1960 Gerganoff was arguably the most significant architect in Ypsilanti. In addition to the first Beyer Hospital and the old Ypsilanti High School (now Cross Street Village), he designed a number of buildings on the Eastern Michigan University campus, including Pierce Hall, the Rackham building, several dormitories and the house that until recently was lived in by the EMU presidents and their families.

Excerpted from the YHF 2001 Home Tour booklet.

35 S. Summit

This diva of a house has had a long and eclectic life, beginning as a Gothic Revival sometime in the mid-nineteenth century and ending up as a Queen Anne. “It’s a sampler, quite wonderful—an architectural history lesson by itself,” said Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation board member Jane Schmiedeke in a 1986 Ann Arbor News article. From a modest frame structure, built perhaps as early as 1842, the house evolved until the 1890s, when it began to look like it does today.

By 1859 several additions to the house had resulted in steeply pitched gables on all four of its sides. Walter Beach bought the house in 1865 to live in with his wife and their expanding family (they eventually had eight children). Beach soon embellished the house, adding a long veranda with a porte-cochere at the south end, a prominent tower in the northwest corner, and elaborate wooden gingerbread. These alterations represented important nineteenth-century status symbols. The popular Queen Anne Style had peaked and was already in decline by 1893 when Beach sold his highly fashionable house.

Excerpted from the YHF 2011 Home Tour booklet.

118 W. Michigan

1008 Congress

This twin gabled house was probably built in two parts, half during the Civil War era, the rest around1880 or 1890. Originally built as a Carpenter Gothic home, it now appears as a vernacular Queen Anne, with the typical asymmetrical design and various decorative siding materials.

Excerpted from the YHF 1987 Home Tour booklet.

46-50 E. Cross

This large, Commercial ltalianate structure was built in 1865 by the order of the Masons. Similar in design to the Thompson Block across River Street, it is thought to have been constructed by the same builder. In its century-plus of existence, the Masonic Block has endured the ravages of time. Fires and the weather took their toll and the far east end of the structure was demolished by a 1939 train wreck. In the late 1970’s, the building was rescued by Tom and Bettie Dodd, who did extensive rehabilitation over a number of years. Richard and Marian Reid purchased the building from the Dodds in July of 1991.

This building is now developed in the way urban planners encourage, housing four thriving businesses in three storefronts, four delightfully varied apartments on the second floor and an elegant penthouse apartment on the third floor.

Excerpted from the YHF 1993 Home Tour booklet.

911 Pearl

911 Pearl evokes the love affair with the romantic Tudor Revival style popular early in this century. Its characteristic features include a multi-gabled facade, arched doorway, decorative brickwork, and half-timbering on the second story fireplace.

Excerpted from the YHF 1997 Home Tour booklet.

Sherzer House

The house at 935 Pearl Street has the Tudor influences like the delightful false thatched roof that is reminiscent of Cotswold, England, and the eyebrow window. The porch has Prairie style posts and brickwork.

The house was built in 1922 for Professor William H. Sherzer of the Michigan State Normal College (today EMU) and his wife, Maude. Local builder Maurice Lathers collaborated with Sherzer on the house’s design and construction. Prior to 1920, Summit Street was the western edge of town. When the Sherzers built on Pearl Street, the Normal Park neighborhood was in its infancy. Their house was the first on the block between Summit and Elm streets.

Excerpted from the YHF 2003 Home Tour booklet.

First Congregational Church

Established in 1881, the First Congregational Church began as a simple brick structure and portions of the original building can still be seen at the rear and southeast corner. In 1898, a second building campaign culminated in the fieldstone Neo-Gothic exterior we see today. Stone for the church was quarried near Manchester, then brought to Ypsilanti by Frank Norton, the builder. The architect who designed the tower, the church interior and other distinctive features was W. Butterfield of Detroit.

In 1898, stained glass windows, designed by the Von Gehricton Company of Columbus, Ohio, were installed. The west window, facing Adams street, was placed in memory of Professor Joseph Estabrook by his pupils. Professor Estabrook, an active member of the congregation, served first as superintendent of Ypsilanti schools and then as president of Michigan Normal School, (Eastern Michigan University).

Excerpted from the YHF 1992 Home Tour booklet.

Ypsilanti Fire Station Museum

In 1898 the Ypsilanti City Council decided to consolidate the city’s fire departments into one centrally located firehouse. This new station, designed by E. P. Rorison, cost $8,750.00 – including the propertyl The result was a handsome three story brick Chateauesque building with a slate roof and a tower. The main floor accommodated the horse stalls and the apparatus room which held the steam engine and the hose and ladder wagons. The second floor housed the hayloft and the dormitory section for the on-duty fire fighters.

When the platoon system was instituted in 1926 providing a day off after each 24 hours on duty, the hayloft was converted to a kitchen. The third floor was a recreation room with a billiard table and small gym. In addition to housing the bell, the tower provided a place for draining the hoses!

Excerpted from the YHF 1979 Home Tour booklet.

Glover House

Built c.1894 for H.P. Glover, whose family resided here until 1941, this is one of the most impressive and beautiful mansions in the city. Purchased by the Dixon family in 1945, it was kept in a condition as close to the original as possible.

Only the finest materials had gone into the construction of this building, which, although basically Queen Anne in style, might be termed late Victorian eclectic because it contains elements of several styles of architecture. Its ten rooms were built by craftsmen imported from Europe and different woods were used in each room. Even today, the original hand-rubbed finishes may still be seen and there is much hand carving, some so delicate it had to be attached with needles.

Excerpted from the YHF 1983 Home Tour booklet.

7 N. Normal

This stately home, built in 1848, has long been a landmark for Ypsilanti residents and may have been designed by the architect who designed the 1840’s Greek Revival house at 218 North Washington Street that has been owned by the Ladies’ Literary Club since 1913. The architecture of the Normal Street house, with its double verandas of fretted columns, is reminiscent of the Greek Revival style of the antebellum South.

The facade has a beautifully balanced design of French doors above and below; the Italianate details were later additions. The house probably started as a rectangle, but successive alterations have changed the roof line. Tourgoers will notice as they proceed through the house that many additions helped to enlarge the informal living space.

Excerpted from the YHF 2011 Home Tour booklet.

Ladies Library

Among the impressive features of this building are the rose-toned brick, the well- proportioned eaves with their classic molding and prominent paired brackets, the pedimented entrance way, and the many windowed belvedere which crowns the building. A Romanesque arch frames the entrance way, and its rounded form is repeated in the second story arched windows with hood molds, and also in the windows of the belvedere.

Excerpted from the YHF 1979 Home Tour booklet.

305 Maple

This marvelously unique Queen Anne house was built in c. 1870 by Brazil Damon, the freight station agent for the Michigan Central Railroad. Mr. Damon had a flair for the dramatic which was evident not only in the plantings he undertook for the Ypsilanti Depot — 17,000 plants forming a liberty bell, or 32,000 plants in a log cabin design — but also in the design of his home.

As builders and architects of the Victorian era strove to break away from classical designs, they sometimes created forms not previously seen in the United States. This innovation lead to such creations as the octagon house and, here, a cruciform house. Its wings extend at right angles with a tower at the center; the whole offset at a 45 degree angle to the street. The various types of shingles and gable trim are in keeping with popular Queen Anne style of the time.

Excerpted from the YHF 1989 Home Tour booklet.

410 N. Huron

Built about 1865. this lovely house is a fine example of the Carpenter Gothic style. distinguished by the intricately crafted detail, or “gingerbread”, in the gable ends. That detailing is found here only in the north/south gables, but it may have once existed in the front gable as well.

The Carpenter Gothic style is characterized by a rectangular shape with the long facade facing the street. a steeply pitched roof, high gables, and usually a porch the length of the front. Often. when more room was needed in this style house, an addition was made in the rear to form a T-shape, as can be seen here. Note the Gothic arched windows flanking the door to the 2nd story balcony and the Gothic arches on the front door. The unusual entryway, featuring two interior doors. was most likely part of the original structure.

City records in 1876 list the owner of the house as Eliza Dunham, widow of Dr. George Dunham. a dentist. City directories in the early 1900s indicate that Mrs. Dunham had “Beds” available, which meant that she ran a rooming house, probably for students at “The Normal”, a very common means of livelihood then for widows in this college town.

Excerpted from the YHF 1985 Home Tour booklet.

301 N. Grove

This Gothic Revival house is one of Ypsilanti’s wonderful gems. Built around 1844 and originally a gymnasium on the estate of Benjamin Follett on North River Street, the house was moved several blocks to its present location by city engineer Charles Woodard in 1861. The sight of a house, trussed and on wheels, lumbering down a street is unusual in any age. Imagine the excitement this event must have caused 145 years ago.

Woodard converted the house to a residence and added a two-story wing with two side porches. Woodard’s daughters, Ada and Gertrude, lived in the house until the mid-1930s. They sold it to Fred Dieterle on the condition that he restore it. In 1955 the house was sold again and a small apartment installed on the second floor of the 1863 wing.

This house’s luckiest day came in 1979 when Joe Mattimoe discovered it. Joe began his love affair with the house by having the chimneys rebuilt, the exterior painted, the poplar floors refinished, several layers of wallpaper removed, and extensive plasterwork done.

Excerpted from the YHF 2006 Home Tour booklet.

Ypsilanti Historical Society Museum

This fine brick building is a handsome example of the Italianate style, echoing familiar Renaissance features. The front facade reveals two sections: the more prominent of which displays three upper windows and a lower bay beside the finely carved porch and entrance; the other section, set back, has but two windows above and below and a well ornamented veranda. A conservatory bay window is at the south.

Excerpted from the YHF 1979 Home Tour booklet.

214 N. Huron

This stately Italianate house was built between 1851, when the property was deeded to grocer Frederick Andrews, and 1856, when it first appeared on the city map. It retains its characteristic Italianate features, like the elaborately detailed entryway and the low roof with wide overhanging eaves supported by decorative brackets. The bay windows and the wonderful enclosed porch on the south side that wraps around the back of the house are later additions.

In 1966, the City of Ypsilanti purchased the home from the Thompson family who had resided in the home since 1912. Like other homes on North Huron Street, it was at risk of being torn down and there was pressure from the community to salvage these historic homes. The building opened as a “Teen Center” in 1968 and it served as Washtenaw Community College from 1975 to 1979. Paul Woodside, a city firefighter, purchased the home from the city in 1979 for $27,000. The couple had undertaken a four-year renovation that was nearly ruined by a 1984 fire.

Former Ypsilanti Mayor Cheryl Farmer purchased the home in 1988 and began renovations: removing temporary walls to open up the porch and restoring a second interior staircase to access the second floor. She had the original banister restored and the bathrooms completely redone with period fixtures. The living room had been “tudorized” with dark beams and dark woodwork, which she brightened up to better reflect the Italianate features. The original wrap around porch was enclosed and serves as a home for her many plants during the winter.

Excerpted from the YHF 2023 Home Tour booklet.

Daniel Quirk, Jr. House

206 N. Huron is known to local residents as the Quirk House. It was built in 1860 for Delos Showerman, a haberdasher. Subsequent owners included a Civil War officer, a professor, and the owners of several flour mills. Its most famous resident, though, was Daniel Quirk, Jr., the son of the founder of Peninsular Paper Company and the National Bank of Ypsilanti. He himself served as mayor of Ypsilanti from 1947-1952 and established the Ypsilanti Opera House.

The house is a charming blend of Italianate, Georgian, and Colonial Revival styles. In its early days, the property extended all the way to the Huron River. Beautiful terraced gardens ran across the slope of hill. There was a tennis court for the Quirks to use on lazy Sunday afternoons. Horses were housed in the carriage house out back.

Daniel Jr. and his wife, Julia, had four children. One of the children, Nancy, married G. Mennen Williams, a former governor of the state of Michigan.

The City of Ypsilanti owned the house from 1961 to 1978. When it was a municipal building, the city attorney and the Department of Parks and Recreation had offices on the second floor. The 14th Circuit Court operated out of the library addition built by Quirk in 1927. Reporters and observers sat in the balcony, watching the trials play out.

Excerpted from the YHF 2015 Home Tour booklet.

103 N. Adams

This brick home is one of the earlier Gothic Revival style homes found in Ypsilanti. The steeply-pitched roof is outlined by gingerbread verge boards consisting of an elaborate curvilinear design. This design is repeated on the posts supporting the front porch roof. Also typical of the Gothic Revival style are the lanceted second-story windows. On two of these, the tracery forms a quatrefoil centered in the arch.

Records indicate this house was constructed for Cicero Millington between 1856 and 1859 on property purchased from Samuel Linn for $1,500. An outline of the house appears on C. S. Woodard’s 1859 map of the City of Ypsilanti. The map indicates the same basic structure with three porches on the street sides and two on the north side of the west wing. The small north wing is an addition – note the different style of porch. Inside, the joining of the two parts of the house is noticeable.

Excerpted from the YHF 1980 Home Tour booklet.

Old City Hall

This great, elaborately detailed example of Second Empire architecture is the crown of the entire North Huron Street vista. The center front tower rises majestically four flights above the entrance. The mansard roof, key to the Second Empire style, is of multi-hued slate with characteristically ornate dormers piercing the roof. Interior details include a fine staircase, walnut woodwork. and handsome double front doors.

The house was built about 1860 by Daniel Lace Quirk, one of Ypsilanti’s most prominent citizens and a founder in such enterprises as the Peninsular Paper Company, the city’s gas plant, the First National Bank, and the Ypsilanti Woolen Manufacturing Company. Given to the city by the Quirk children, the house served as Ypsilanti’s City Hall until 1978. At that time. once again in private hands, it underwent a major restoration as office and business space.

Excerpted from the YHF 1985 Home Tour booklet.

109 Catherine

Appearances can be deceiving! This small ltalianate style house was once the carriage barn for the residence at 302 South Huron Street. It was built in 1850 and converted to a residence during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1901 it was first separated from the property at 302 South Huron and sold as a residence, although it has been converted several years prior to that.

Excerpted from the YHF 1979 Home Tour booklet.

315 N. Grove

This National Folk Wing and Gable Style house was built c. 1896. A simplified version of the more elaborate Queen Anne style, its vertical lines, peaked roofs, and charming front porch suggest a typical late Victorian working man’s home. By the 1930’s, the families of a well-digger, a tinsmith, a laborer, a draftsman, and a freight agent had occupied the home.

Excerpted from the YHF 1995 Home Tour booklet.

323 Maple

This fantastic Queen Anne style house is actually much older than it appears. The original structure dates back to 1866 and was most likely in the popular Italianate style of that time. The current structure was added to the front of the house after it was purchased by Maro M. Reed in 1893.

Reed hired an architect named Van Falkenberg, who was famously known as the man who brought the Queen Anne tower design to Ypsilanti. Van Falkenberg added onto the existing structure with elaborate wraparound porches on the front and side, and various gables with layers of notch-cut shingles, paneled barge boards, and elaborate inset panels in the triangle formed at the peak of the gable (but no towers). Distinctive turned posts are separated by Victorian turned spindle fretwork on all the porches.

Excerpted from the YHF 2016 Home Tour booklet.

221 S. Washington

George Kishlar, built this house in 1860 and his family lived in it for over 100 years. Kathie Kamp and Jonathan Langberg, and their two sons Karl and Sam, arrived in Ypsilanti from San Francisco last summer. They are the third owners outside the Kishlar family.

The home is a classic Italianate with a low-pitched roof, projecting eaves with finely detailed paired brackets and brick detailing over the tall windows. The lovely sidelights and transom at the front entrance recall an even earlier period.

Excerpted from the YHF 1991 Home Tour booklet.

Hutchinson House

The Hutchinson House was built for Shelley Byron Hutchinson, founder of the S&H Green Stamp business. Construction began in 1902 and was completed in 1904. One of the great mansions in the state of Michigan, it is an eclectic mix of the Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, and Arts and Crafts styles of architecture. The heavy rusticated stonework at its base gives it a hint of the Richardsonian Romanesque style as well. The result is a picturesque blend of towers, curves, lines, shapes, and materials.

Hutchinson chose materials from throughout the world for his thirty-three room single-family home. He added many unique features, including an indoor pool (now capped), a two-story ballroom with an orchestra loft, one of the first elevators in the country, and a dining room that is a replica of one in Kaiser Wilhelm’s mansion in Germany. Ornately carved woods decorate mantels, beams, columns, wainscoting, and window and door frames.

Plaster rosettes and moldings beautify the ceilings in several rooms and elegant brass hardware adorns the doors. Brass fixtures and original basins, tubs, and light fixtures are present in bathrooms. Imported ceramic tiles are found in the kitchen, a serving room, and three bedrooms. Almost all of the floors are of hardwood.

Over the years the house has had many owners; at one point it was converted into fourteen apartments. Fortunately, the remodeling was done carefully and did not destroy the basic design of the structure. Since 1975 the Hutchinson House has been the headquarters of the High Scope Education Research Foundation. The foundation has done a wonderful job of maintaining both the house and its beautifully landscaped grounds.

Excerpted from the YHF 2009 Home Tour booklet.

Wilkinson – Lewis – Greene house

The stunning ltalianate, Wilkinson – Lewis – Greene house is one of Ypsilanti’s most significant historic structures.

Built in 1878 by James Wilkinson for his widowed mother, the house was purchased in 1905 by Harriet Adelaide Lewis, herself a widow with several children. Lewis’s daughter Evangeline lived in the house for many, many years.

Following Evangeline’s death, the Ypsilanti Historical Society owned the house for a period of time. In late 1989 Earl Greene bought the house from the Historical Society. Greene would prove to be the rescuing angel of this beautiful house, a structure which was once described by Ward Swarts, a restoration architect who contributed to the formation of the Ypsilanti Historic District, as ”one of the finest extant examples of eclectic Victorian/ltalianate architecture in the Midwest.”

Greene spared nothing in his restoration efforts. He employed a researcher from Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village and the finest artisans and woodworkers to be found. During the two years following Greene’s purchase of 415 North Huron, the restoration team accomplished near miracles. Extraordinary decorative painting was revealed and restored. Under many coats of paint, ceiling paintings were discovered and restored. Door and window frames were found to be of a type of walnut that is now extinct.

Excerpted from the YHF 2007 Home Tour booklet.

The Ladies’ Literary Club

This wonderful c. 1842 Greek Revival house was thought by Emil Lorch, founder of the architecture program at the University of Michigan, to be one of the finest examples of its style in the country. In 1935, due to the efforts of Lorch, the house was selected by the Advisory Committee of the American Buildings Survey “because of its age and architectural interest as being worthy of most careful preservation for future generations.” This document was deposited in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. In 1965 the first marker on a historic house in Ypsilanti, bearing the Michigan State Historical Commission designation No. 47, was presented to the club; and on March 16, 1972, the club was notified that its house was now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The house was built by Arden Ballard. Several others owned it in quick succession but the Grant family, who purchased it in the 1850s, and the Ladies’ Literary Club, which bought it in 1913 from Edward Grant, have been the chief stewards of the house.

The club itself, which was founded in 1878, has a rich history, much of it entwined with the story of the house. Over the years, the preservation of their clubhouse, which is in Ypsilanti’s historic district, has been an important goal for club members to coalesce around. The house is used for all club meetings and events but it is also available for rent to the public. In 1970, after careful consultation with preservation architect Richard Frank, a large kitchen, caretaker’s apartment, additional restrooms, and a basement for workshop activities and storage were added to the back of the house. To finance the addition, the ladies of the club spent money they had on hand, raised more, and secured a substantial mortgage, which they paid off in short order.

Those who have never been inside this architectural treasure will love touring its gracious rooms, hearing the history of the club and the house, and seeing the antiques donated over the years by club members.

Excerpted from the YHF 2009 Home Tour booklet.

When Mark and Barbara Harris bought this Stick style home in 1968, it was in “dilapidated and terrible” condition. The house had been built by Dr. Thomas Shaw in c. 1890 as an office for his medical practice as well as his own residence. His daughter, Miss Shaw, continued to live there until 1968. At one point, she used the downstairs as a haberdashery but never altered the Victorian features of the home.

Notice the exterior with its multi-gabled roof, its polychrome stone foundation, its decorative brackets, and the angled second story window with a finial. Interior door transoms feature handblown cranberry glass.

Excerpted from the YHF 1986 Home Tour booklet.

This early Greek Revival structure, the first brick house built in Ypsilanti, was constructed for Judge Jacob Larzelere in 1830.

In 1932, when Miss Doyne Wolfe purchased the house, the kitchen sink still had an old-fashioned pump, there was a woodshed out back, and stove pipes connected to the ample chimney.

There is some question as to whether the structure was originally built as a double house or whether it was built in two. stages. The house rests on a stone foundation and heavy oak beams, and the basement floor is paved with brick. Bricks for the entire structure may have been imported from France, since there were no local brickyards at that time.

Excerpted from the YHF 1981 Home Tour Booklet

Watling Dental Clinic

Dating to 1892, this building was the first in Michigan to be designed exclusively for the practice of dentistry. It was the dental clinic of Dr. John Watling and his partner, a Dr. James. Dr. Watling cofounded the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan. He lived in the Italianate house next door, and one can imagine him slipping in and out the back door of his office for lunch or a break. The dentists maintained their partnership until shortly after the turn of the last century, when Dr. Watling retired to Washington, DC. Dr. James was joined, in 1912, by Dr. Edward George, who maintained a practice in Ypsilanti well into the 1940s. The first floor then became a real estate office. The building went through a spell of being vacant until it was bought in the 1970s by Oscar Haab, who began its restoration under the direction of Ypsilanti architect Denis Schmiedeke. After serving as a residence for seventeen years (as the second floor was always intended to be), it is now returned to its original use as a business, the office of Bredell and Bredell Attorneys at Law.

Designed by Detroit architect George D. Mason or perhaps by James Watling Martin, a Mason apprentice and nephew of Dr. Watling, the building is a robust example of Richardsonian Romanesque style. Typical of that style is the facade with its rough-cut red and gray sandstone, the second-story large arched window, and the slightly projected first-floor bay window trimmed in delicately carved floral motifs in limestone.

Inside, the paint-encrusted doors and woodwork in oak and yellow pine have been stripped, repaired, and varnished. The asphalt tile and pitch was removed to reveal a patterned floor of oak, fir, and pine. Tragedy was averted when robbers made off with the carved oak fireplace mantel. They were intercepted en route to Tennessee and the mantel re-installed. In 2002, when the Bredells bought the building, they continued the renovations by stripping the woodwork upstairs, removing the dropped ceiling to uncover the transoms, and creating sunny, inviting offices with new colors and fixtures. The whole building is now united for you to visit.
Dating to 1892, this building was the first in Michigan to be designed exclusively for the practice of dentistry. It was the dental clinic of Dr. John Watling and his partner, a Dr. James. Dr. Watling cofounded the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan. He lived in the Italianate house next door, and one can imagine him slipping in and out the back door of his office for lunch or a break. The dentists maintained their partnership until shortly after the turn of the last century, when Dr. Watling retired to Washington, DC. Dr. James was joined, in 1912, by Dr. Edward George, who maintained a practice in Ypsilanti well into the 1940s. The first floor then became a real estate office. The building went through a spell of being vacant until it was bought in the 1970s by Oscar Haab, who began its restoration under the direction of Ypsilanti architect Denis Schmiedeke. After serving as a residence for seventeen years (as the second floor was always intended to be), it is now returned to its original use as a business, the office of Bredell and Bredell Attorneys at Law.

Designed by Detroit architect George D. Mason or perhaps by James Watling Martin, a Mason apprentice and nephew of Dr. Watling, the building is a robust example of Richardsonian Romanesque style. Typical of that style is the facade with its rough-cut red and gray sandstone, the second-story large arched window, and the slightly projected first-floor bay window trimmed in delicately carved floral motifs in limestone.

Inside, the paint-encrusted doors and woodwork in oak and yellow pine have been stripped, repaired, and varnished. The asphalt tile and pitch was removed to reveal a patterned floor of oak, fir, and pine. Tragedy was averted when robbers made off with the carved oak fireplace mantel. They were intercepted en route to Tennessee and the mantel re-installed. In 2002, when the Bredells bought the building, they continued the renovations by stripping the woodwork upstairs, removing the dropped ceiling to uncover the transoms, and creating sunny, inviting offices with new colors and fixtures. The whole building is now united for you to visit.

Excerpted from YHF 2023 Home Tour Booklet.

Watling House

Doug and Mary Kisor’s spectacular Italian Villa home was only sometimes a place that Ypsilantians looked forward to visiting. It was the home and office of Dr. John Andrees Watling and his spouse, Eunice Robinson Wright. Dr. Watling was a Professor at the University of Michigan and one of the founding members of the U of M Dental College. He was the first college-educated dentist to practice in Michigan in an era when few dentists had formal training. He graduated from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati in 1860. Following graduation, he returned to Ypsilanti to set up his practice and married his wife, Eunice. Built-in 1871, the home may also have been used as his dental office before relocating his practice to 119 N. Huron.

Eunice Watling was active in the Ypsilanti Community, starting a movement to found a public library. In 1878 she helped found the Ladies Literary Club and hosted the first meeting of the local Daughters of the American Revolution at their home.

The home is an example of the Italian Villa style of architecture inspired by the villas of Tuscany. A tower, or campanile, and an irregular asymmetrical floor plan characterize the style. The home demonstrates key characteristics of the form. This example includes overhanging bracketed eaves, asymmetry, arched-topped windows, and door openings. A casket door in the living room’s east wall led to a side porch. The dining room has parquet floors of walnut, oak, and cherry. A curved stair in the tower entry accesses the second floor. The tower used as a greenhouse in the winter is accessed using a ladder. Initially, a narrow second stairway existed off the dining room.

Excerpted from YHF 2023 Home Tour Booklet.

The Towner House was the catalyst for the formation of the Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation in 1974.

The Towner House at 303 North Huron still stands on its original stone foundation. Its post and beam construction with most of the original beams are still intact. The architectural style is Greek Revival which was very popular in the 1830-1840s. The current structure is the same size and shape as the original structure built in 1837.

Marcus Lane and Arden Ballard purchased the property where the Towner House now resides for $181.37 in February 1836. In April of 1837 Mr. Ballard and his wife quit their claim to the deed for the sum of $500. Marcus Lane became the sole owner. Both men made significant contributions to other major buildings in the neighborhood, notably the Ladies’ Literary Club and the Breakey Mansion.

Marcus Lane was one of the first lawyers in Ypsilanti and later became a judge. He was one of the founding members of the Vigilance Committee to maintain law and order within Ypsilanti. He was also one of the original partners in the first banking endeavor to form in this community. Marcus Lane died in 1840. The executor of his estate was John Geddes, a well-known businessman, who operated a saw mill, flour mill and plaster mill.

In March of 1851 the house was sold to Nancy Spencer Towner, widow of Ephraim Towner. Nancy had several children from a previous marriage including Jennette Spencer. Ephraim had eight children by his first wife Anna who died in child birth in 1816. Norman Towner was his youngest. Norman Towner and Jennette Spencer married in May of 1854. Step-brother and step-sister became husband and wife. The couple moved into the home around 1858. Norman became City Clerk in 1870. His later job was as a bookkeeper for a local farm implement company. The couple had five children, two of whom died at a young age. The remaining three children, daughters Anna and Caroline and son Tracy lived in the home their entire lives.

Because of the almost 100 years of occupancy by the Towner family, the home received its name “The Towner House”. While the Towners owned the house, additions were added and a garage was built, more than doubling the size of the original structure. Since the Towners had no heirs, the house was left to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

In 1951 G.L. Stewart and his family bought the house and occupied it until 1968. For the following 4 years the house was a rental property. The First Presbyterian Church of Ypsilanti purchased the property in 1972. The church razed a newer house that was located between the Towner house and the church building. Their next step would have been to demolish the Towner House.

A group called the Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation was formed to save the Towner House from demolition. A lease agreement between the Presbyterian Church and the Heritage Foundation was formed in 1975. Gary Decker, who worked in the EMU theater department, moved into the house. A new heating system and other improvements were made at that time. After 6 years, Gary Decker moved out and the lease between the Heritage Foundation and the First Presbyterian church expired.

A very significant event occurred in 1978 when the City of Ypsilanti passed the Historic District Ordinance. This law made a large part of central Ypsilanti a historic district. Buildings located within the designated area, including the Towner House, could not be demolished or altered without consent of the Historic District Commission.

The Ypsilanti Historical Society, which operates the Historical Museum located at 220 North Huron, leased the Towner House for a Children’s Museum starting in 1982. The purpose of the Children’s Museum was to provide a hands-on learning for children under the age of 16. Elementary age school children were invited to the Towner House for demonstrations and activities illustrating early life in Ypsilanti. The Presbyterian Church and Historical Society signed a 10-year lease but by 1990 the Children’s Museum ceased to exist.

The Towner House fell into disrepair and in 1992 petitions were submitted to the Ypsilanti Historic District Commission (HDC) for permission to demolish the structure. The HDC denied the request and a lengthy court battle began between the church and the City of Ypsilanti. By 1999, a mediated consent agreement between both parties was reached. It called for the removal of all of the additions except for the original structure and the installation of a new roof. The final piece of the agreement called for a committee of citizens to be in charge of maintenance and repair of the building. The length of the agreement was 25 years. The group became the non-profit Towner House Foundation, LLC.

Between 2000 and 2007, the Foundation painted the structure, repaired windows and doors, replaced front and back porches, repaired the back west wall and foundation. For the first time in many years the Towner House looked good. Internally the house was just a shell. Plaster was falling from walls and ceilings. The Towner House needs all of the utilities; heating, wiring and plumbing which is estimated to cost over $100,000. Without the ownership of the property, the Towner House Foundation could not apply for grants to start the interior restoration. To make things worse, a major recession hit Michigan in 2009 leaving many non-profit organizations struggling for money.

In 2012 The Towner House Foundation started negotiations with the Church and, on December 30, 2014, the Towner House Foundation purchased the property from the First Presbyterian Church. Eastern Michigan University’s Preservation Department has offered to partner with the Foundation to help preserve and rehabilitate the building.

As of 2022, the Towner House Foundation continues to raise money to restore the interior and install utilities.

Many thanks go out in large part to the Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation and its financial support in the purchase of the home, to the City administrators and legal boards that worked with us throughout the process of the purchase. Finally, to the First Presbyterian Church membership and Session, without their help none of this would have been possible.

Excerpted from History of the Towner House by John Harrington.