Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by land speculators John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey, who named the town after their wives, both named Ann, and the plethora of bur oak trees on the 640 acres of land they purchased for a total of $800. Since that day, the town has evolved into a thriving city, known for its education, outdoor recreation, arts and culture, and beautiful homes. And many of those homes are historic, some dating back to the early 1800s, and have been thoughtfully preserved over the decades in order to maintain their original details and historic charm.

Because we’re in the business of homes, these historic homes are especially fascinating to us — as they tell the story of Ann Arbor, and more importantly, the people who occupied them and how they helped shape our wonderful city. Let’s explore some of the most notable historic homes in Ann Arbor, along with some interesting tidbits about each one, from the biography of their owners to some of the historic elements that have been carefully preserved over the years.

 

Kellogg-Warden House | 1835-1839

500 North Main Street

One of the oldest buildings still standing in Ann Arbor, the Kellogg-Warden House was originally located on Wall Street, across the river in Lower Town. The residence offers a rare glimpse into construction of that era, including the split lathe backing for plaster walls, extremely wide plank floors, and brick “nogging” within the walls, which acted as insulation. Other details include corner block trim in the front parlor, a beautiful curving staircase, and a small ivory knob on the newel post, which indicates the house was free and clear of debt.

It was constructed in various stages by the Kellogg and Warden families from 1835 to 1839, when the patriarch of the family moved in. Pioneers from New York, the Kelloggs and Wardens were millers and merchants running similar businesses in Ann Arbor. Ultimately, only one member of the family stayed in Ann Arbor and the house remained empty until the Ruthruff family purchased it in 1853 and occupied it for three decades. In the 1890s, it was purchased by a gardener, Charles Greiner, who kept it in his family for almost 100 years. The Washtenaw County Historical Society saved the property from demolition in 1989 and moved it to its current home on Main Street. It now houses the Museum on Main Street, which you can visit on Saturdays and Sundays from 12–4 p.m. or on weekdays by appointment only.

 

Orrin White House | 1836-1840

2940 Fuller Road

The Orrin White House is a two-story frame house built by Orrin and Ann White, who had moved from New York to Michigan in 1924 to claim land along the Huron River. They built a small shanty on the property, where Huron High School now stands, and were the first settlers outside the village of Ann Arbor. In the 1920s, hundreds of Native Americans camped in that area every year, on their journey to receive treaty gifts from the British. White was a prominent figure in Ann Arbor, serving as Washtenaw County Commissioner in 1827, sheriff in 1832, associate Circuit Court judge from 1833-1837, constitutional convention delegate in 1835, and on the state legislature in 1842.

The Whites built the house one section at a time, using patterns typically found in New York. It is covered with cobblestones, in a herringbone pattern on the front and a random pattern on the remaining sides. The home is built in an L shape with an addition to the rear. Details include incised columns, handmade glass sidelights, stone quoins, and pierced trusswork in the form of hexes. Orrin died in 1864, and it wasn’t until the 1970s and 1980s that the home was fully restored by Robert and Nan Hodges. It remains in excellent condition and is used as a private residence to this day.

 

Judge Robert S. Wilson House | 1839

126 North Division Street

Robert S. Wilson was an attorney (and eventual member of the Michigan House of Representatives) who moved from Allegheny County, New York to Ann Arbor in 1835. Wilson’s grand home, which features Greek Revival architecture, was built in 1839 and he lived there until 1850 when he relocated to Chicago and sold the home to John H. Welles. It is believed that Welles constructed a rear addition and made other major alterations. It changed hands many times over the decades — and even served as a house to sororities and fraternities for 20 years. The home, which you can still drive by today, features four columns rising through two stories and has been singled out on countless surveys of Michigan architecture as an outstanding specimen of Neoclassical design. 

 

President’s House, University Of Michigan | 1840

815 South University

In 1840, the University of Michigan relocated from its original location in Detroit to its new home in Ann Arbor. There were four original houses constructed for faculty, including the President’s House, which all together cost a total of $26,900. Presidents of the university occupied the home over the years, making their additions and improvements along the way, including the addition of a third story, a west wing with a library and more bedrooms, a sleeping porch, a small study, a glassed-in plant room, and more. In 1970, the Hatcher Graduate Library was constructed behind the house and in the late 1980s, it was extensively renovated. It is currently undergoing another round of renovations, this time focused on “essential accessibility upgrades and [enhancing] functionality, safety and security while preserving historical features.” Construction is expected to be completed this summer and will become the home of the university’s 15th president.

 

Dr. Benajah Ticknor House | 1844

2781 Packard Road

Built in 1844, the Dr. Benajah Ticknor House is now known as the Cobblestone Farm and Museum, named from the cobblestone used to make this charming farmhouse with forest green shutters. The surrounding land was used as a farm as far back as 1824 and remained in operation well into the late 20th century. The property passed hands several times over the years, until it was acquired by naval surgeon Benajah Ticknor, who built the farmhouse most likely with the help of builder Steven Mills. Ticknor was away for long periods of time on Naval assignments and retired to the farm in 1854 with his wife and two adopted daughters. After his death in 1858, Ticknor’s extensive medical library was donated to the University of Michigan. It passed hands several more times over the decades, until it was purchased by the city of Ann Arbor to be used as a museum in 1872. Cobblestone Farm and Museum is open for tours, and regularly hosts fairs, weddings and all kinds of events.

 

Kempf House Museum | 1853

312 South Division Street

The Bennett-Kempf House was built in 1853 by Henry DeWitt Bennett, who was the postmaster of Ann Arbor for much of the 1850s, and later became the secretary and steward of the University of Michigan. Upon retiring and moving to California in 1886, he sold the house to his neighbor, who rented it out for a few years to Reuben and Pauline Kempf, who bought it in 1894. The Kempfs were musicians and the home became an epicenter for music in the community, as musical figures such as Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Victor Herbert, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink made regular appearances. This Greek Revival house is a unique resource because of its national architectural significance, downtown location, and the distinguished contributions of the Kempfs to the musical culture of Ann Arbor. Today, it is home to the Kempf House Museum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the Bennett-Kempf house, its garden and collections.

 

William Anderson House | 1853

2301 Packard Road

Pioneer John Anderson purchased Pittsfield Township farmland in 1831, but it was his son William who erected this still-standing, small Greek Revival home. As the first Washtenaw County sheriff, William Anderson had carried on a public feud with Probate Judge Robert S. Wilson, who built a larger Greek Revival house on Division Street (which we discussed earlier on this list!). Anderson owned the property until his death in 1873, when the house then passed to his wife and eventually his children. In 1932, the house was foreclosed on and left the Anderson family. It wasn’t until 1937 that Dr. Inez R. Wisdom purchased the home to be used as a private residence and medical office. She then gave a portion of the property to St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church so they could construct a new church building. And after Wisdom’s death, the house was given to the church.

 

Bell-Spalding House | 1854

2117 Washtenaw Avenue

Also known as the Tuomy House, the Bell-Spalding House is a part-Greek-Revival-part-Italianate home built in 1854. George W. and Jane E. Bell consolidated several smaller parcels into a larger farmstead, building a Greek Revival farmhouse that is now the rear ell of the current structure. The Bells sold the property in 1859 and it passed hands several times, before it was sold to New Yorkers Frederick A. and Almina S. Spalding in 1864. Shortly after the purchase, the Spaldings constructed the Italianate portion of the house, which now comprises most of the residence. The Spaldings’ sons, Frederick Jr. and Volney, were active in the Ann Arbor community; Frederick Jr. graduated from the University of Michigan medical school and set up practice in Ann Arbor, and Volney was a botany professor at the university and the founder of Matthaei Botanical Gardens.

After the death of Frederick Sr. in 1874, the farmstead was purchased by brothers Patrick and Cornelius L. Tuomy, the latter of whom farmed the land and moved into the house and raised his family there. The house and two surrounding acres were later transferred to the University of Michigan to be used as the headquarters for the Historical Society of Michigan and the Academy of Arts, Science and Letters. It was later sold by the Society in 2007 to a private owner and remains a private residence to this day.

 

Thomas Earl House | 1860

415 North Main Street

Thomas Earl was born in Ireland, emigrated to Canada in 1829, and moved to the Ann Arbor area in 1833. He then purchased 200 acres of land and married Mary Ann Duncan in 1834. The Earls moved to Ann Arbor in 1849, opened a grocery store on Main Street and lived above the store. They purchased the lot this house now sits on in 1857, starting to build the house in 1860. After Mary’s death in 1899, the property was left to the Thomas Catholic Church, before it was sold to Fred Schaible at auction in 1900, then owned by several different owners over the next 100 years. 

This 2.5-story brick Greek Revival house has deep cornice returns and an entry with rectangular transom and sidelights. It has a charming hipped roof wooden porch along the front of the house, which was likely constructed in the early 20th century. The bricks are unusually small, with a light-colored mortar, giving it a distinctive and timeless look.

 

Henry S. Frieze House | 1860

1547 Washtenaw Avenue

Henry S. Frieze was born in Boston and graduated from Brown University in 1841. He moved to Ann Arbor to become the Professor of Latin at the University of Michigan in 1854, and purchased this land just outside of town in 1859. This home was built from 1860-1862. It is a stunning two-story Italianate home, constructed with dressed fieldstone walls that are 2 feet thick, ranging in color from black to light gray, with touches of red and orange. The home has massive brick chimneys and a hipped and gabled slate roof with a hip roof cupola and weathervane. Frieze sold the house to a retired businessman in 1868, and it was later purchased by U-M professor of law Horace W. Wilgus, whose family lived here until the 1960s.

 

Christian Eberbach House | 1863-69

1115 Woodlawn Street

Christian Eberbach was a prominent figure in the 1860s, involved in many different industries in Ann Arbor. He founded Eberbach and Company in 1842 to manufacture articles sold by pharmacists and opened the Eberbach Drug Store on Main Street. He was also the founder of the Hutzel Plumbing Company and the Ann Arbor Savings Bank, as well as an early organizer of the Republican Party and a member of the Electoral College, which confirmed the election of Abraham Lincoln. Christian and his wife, Margaretha, had eight children — five of whom lived to maturity — and they built this home for their family in the 1860s. This spot was chosen so the children could get an education in Ann Arbor while still growing up in the peaceful countryside.

This home is perhaps the best example of the Italianate Villa style in all of Ann Arbor. It has a distinctive T shape with a three-story tower above the front entry, which was used as a children’s playroom accessible via a narrow winding staircase. The windows are adorned with Italianate corbeled brick crowns, reflecting Eberbach’s German origins.

 

Jacob Hoffstetter House | 1887

322 East Washington Street

Jacob Hoffstetter was about 5 years old when he immigrated to Ann Arbor from Germany with his parents in 1854. In 1872, Jacob opened a saloon and grocery on Main Street, and he and his wife and children lived above the store for many years. The business was successful and in 1887, they sold the business and used the funds to build this house. The house was so large that they were able to take on boarders, including men of the U-M chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. In 1937, the house was divided into apartments and a new entrance was built on the southeast corner. This renovation altered the interior significantly, but much of the original wood trim was preserved and new trim was picked to match the old. It was renovated once again in 1980 for commercial and residential use.

 

Floyd R. Mechem House | 1898

1402 Hill Street

Floyd R. Mechem was born in New York but moved to Ann Arbor at a young age, where he attended high school in 1874-75. He then taught himself law, was admitted to the bar in 1879, and set up a practice and served as city attorney in Battle Creek, Michigan. After establishing a firm in Detroit, Mechem became Tappan Professor of Law at the University of Michigan in 1892. He had this home built in 1898, where he lived until he was appointed professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. It then became the home of a mechanical engineering professor, was used as a Women’s League residence, and then later as general housing for students. 

This 2.5-story building has a steeply pitched hip and cross-gable roof and Colonial Revival trim. The large wraparound porch extends across half the facade, featuring Tuscan columns and spindlework. It has six large windows with leaded glass transoms on the front and side, and an Art Glass window near the front double doors illuminating the main staircase.

 

Delta Upsilon Fraternity House | 1902

1331 Hill Street

While The University of Michigan is packed full of historic buildings, one of the most iconic is the Delta Upsilon Fraternity House. This gorgeous, Tudor-Revival mansion was created to house the famous fraternity in the early 1900s. It was designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn and is one of the earliest surviving examples of his non-industrial and non-commercial designs. The fraternity has occupied the house since its construction and it is the oldest fraternity house in the city still being used by the original organization that built it. Sadly, the house was gutted after a fire broke out in 2008, but it was restored and reopened in 2012.

This 2.5-story side-gable Tudor-Revival home has Arts and Crafts influences throughout. The first story is made with brick, while the second story is stucco with half-timbered and shingled accents. The symmetrical facade has a narrow, three-story front-gable projection and a slightly projecting front-gable wing on either side.

 

Which is Your Favorite?

Which of these charming historic homes is your favorite? Tell us in the comments below!