1. The downtown Ypsilanti walking tour begins at the Ypsilanti Historical Museum at 220 N. Huron. The brick Italianate Style home was built by Asa Dow in 1860. He was the first president of the First National Bank of Ypsilanti. He was also an incorporator of the Ypsilanti Woolen Manufacturing Company, famous for its long underwear. Later, A. H. Goodrich owned the home; he ran the Follett House Hotel in the Depot Town section of the city.

This is the one home on the tour that you may walk all the way around to see all four elevations, as well as the interior. The home is square in shape with wide eaves overhanging a central entrance and small porch, all typical Italianate Style features. On the exterior, note the tall arched windows and the white woodwork trim. The bay windows and double brackets at the roofline are also typical of Italianate Style architecture. The low hipped roof features three brick chimneys.

Inside, you'll notice a large wooden central staircase, wood floors, marble fireplaces, extensive stenciling, and plaster medallions on the ceiling. Some rooms have a ten inch wide cornice molding.

The building was divided into apartments in 1922, and was purchased by the city in 1966. It became the city museum in the early 1970s, and is restored as a single family home housing the museum's collection. The museum is furnished in the style of the time with donated furniture. It is run by the Ypsilanti Historical Society.

The museum is open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 2-4 pm. Admission and parking are free. Donations are welcome. Phone: 734-482-4990. The city archives are located here as well, for those who might want to do more research.
2. The next stop on the tour is the house next door to the north, at 304 N. Huron. This house is an excellent example of Second Empire Style: It is square in shape with a multi-colored, fish scale slate mansard roof. A mansard roof consists of a low pitched hip roof with steeply angled lower section, most always with dormers. The home also features a central tower, tall arched windows, dormers, central entrance with porch, and contrasting patterns in the brick work, called imbrication. The windows, some in pairs, have pediments. A pediment is a triangular shaped section usually found over a door or window.

Built in the 1860s by contractor John Weeks Flower Sr., (who also built the Follett House Hotel in the Depot Town section of the city) it was the home of Daniel Quirk. The home is one of the largest in Ypsilanti. Quirk founded the Peninsular Paper Company on the banks of the Huron River. His son donated the building to the city. From 1912-1978 it functioned as city hall. Today, it houses offices and apartments. The former carriage house in the back now also houses offices. If time and inclination allow, one can detour off the path of the tour now by turning right on Cross St. and walking east down the hill and over the Huron River bridge (with views of Riverside Park, once the backyards of the homes on the tour) to the Depot Town area of the city. Originally a bustling area where the train stopped, the restored Italianate Style commercial buildings now house retail shops, such as antiques stores, great restaurants and a car museum. A visit here for lunch may be a satisfying diversion.
3. Continuing on the walking tour, go straight across Cross Street and then cross Huron Street so that you are on the west side of Huron Street. Go to 415 N. Huron, the next stop on the tour. This Italianate Style home is known as the Wilkinson-Lewis house. It was built in 1877-78 by a Scotsman named James Wilkinson. The home is brick painted beige/grey to look like weathered stone. Note the high symmetrical slightly arched windows, the double brackets at the eaves, and the very low roof. There is raised wood rope-like carving around the doors and windows. Note the slender columns of the porch. Inside features include a black walnut staircase, center plaster medallions on the ceilings, stenciling and decorative paintwork. Note the "funeral door" to the left of the main entrance as you face the home. Many Victorian-era homes have this feature, necessary in the time before funeral parlors, when funerals were held at home. That door was used to bring caskets in and out of the home, directly into the parlor of the home. There are two garages outside; the one closest to the house was part of the original barn. The Lewis family owned the home until the early 1970s, when they gave it to Eastern Michigan University. The University used it to house visiting guests. The Ypsilanti Historical Society bought it in 1983 for a meeting place. It has since been restored to a single family home.
4. Now proceed next door, south to 411 N. Huron. This is yet another Italianate Style home built in the 1860s. Green in color with white trim, it features tall double hung windows which are symmetrical, and a side entrance with a porch that features slender columns. The roof is low sloping with scrolling double brackets to support its wide overhanging eaves. Note the decorative lintels over the windows. Inside is an open wooden stairway. The building is almost 3000 square feet in size. The home was once apartments and has been returned to a single family home. Continuing south, the Michigan Firehouse Museum stands at the northwest corner of Huron and Cross Streets. This can be another interesting detour on the walk. Otherwise, go back across Cross Street, continuing south on Huron Street.
5. The next official stop on the tour is 303 N. Huron. The Towner House is the oldest house on its original foundation in the city. A stark contrast to some of the surrounding mansions, it exists to show an older more common type of home in the city. It was built in 1837 and is Greek Revival in style. This style has symmetrical windows and doors and a front facing gable roof. There are eave returns at the edges of the roofline. All of this is seen in the Towner House, which is a one and a half story building. There is a pediment over the front door, thought to be original. The door trim and pierced porch supports are reminiscent of Gothic Revival Style and were added later when these styles were popular. The home is sided with wooden clapboards. The first floor windows are six over six panes. The top floor windows are now eight over one paned, but were originally eight over eight panes.

Inside, it has a marble fireplace, but this is not original to the home. There are low ceilings and a small stairway to the upstairs. There is a "Michigan basement" in the home, which consists of fieldstone walls and a dirt floor. The front porch was added c. 1850. An addition on the back of the house was recently removed because it was not in good condition or original to the home. Once owned by the Cross family, its namesake, the Towner family, owned the house from 1851 to 1951. It was once a children's hands-on museum but this was closed due to lack of funds. The home is reopened for special events such as the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival in August. At the center of controversy for many years regarding its use and location, it now is safely preserved and out of danger of demolition.
6. Continue south on Huron Street to 203 N. Huron. This imposing brick home was once thought to be the largest home between Detroit and Chicago. Known as the Cornwell residence, it was built in 1883. It is high Victorian Gothic Revival in style with Queen Anne elements. It is generally square in shape with symmetrical fenestration. (Fenestration is the pattern of the windows) Originally one entered the building in the central projecting bay through a door which is now a window. This central bay features a small pediment. Small brackets support the many gabled roofline; there are many chimneys. A polychromatic brick course runs along the cornice of the building for decoration. There is some stained glass in the windows.

The Cornwells built a huge paper mill along the Huron River, and with 500 employees it was the largest in the state. The home had the first telephone line in town which was a direct line to the paper mill. In 1886, Cornelius Cornwell was the mayor of Ypsilanti.

The Cornwells were very enterprising and also built a sanitarium in town, based on water they found when drilling a new well for the paper mill. There was nothing special about this water, however. The sanitarium became known as the "Occidental Hotel", but it was put out of business in 1907 with the advent of the Federal Pure Food & Drug Act. Some of these spring water bottles, as well as others from the time when the city was popular as a mineral springs site, can be seen at the Ypsilanti Historical Museum.

In the late 1970s the building experienced a fire, and then fell into disrepair before being turned into twelve apartments. At one time there were twenty-four apartments in this house!
7. Continue south. The next stop on the tour is just across Washtenaw at 125 N. Huron. This is the Ballard/Breakey House. A Greek Revival Style house with colossal columns, it is white painted brick. Built in 1830, the columns were added ten years later. They are unique in that they are Doric in order, yet are fluted. The Doric order is a very simple classical architectural order with non-fluted columns. Flutes are the vertical channels seen in the columns. The home has the distinction of being listed on the federal Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). Arden Ballard, the last village president, built the home. The Breakey family lived here from 1956-66; he was a family doctor.

The home features many fireplaces, each one unique; original pine woodwork; and an open stairway with a newel post with inlaid mother-of-pearl. There was even a ballroom on the third floor.

Outside, small columns echo the large porch columns and frame the door. The columns, entablature (the part of the building supported by the columns, which includes the pediment and cornice), and pediment are all made of wood. There are not many other details on the front of the building. The columns take precedence in Greek Revival homes as the look of an ancient Greek temple was desired. This style was popular in the early 19th century when the U.S. wanted to follow the example of early Greek democratic values, and even architecture.

Many additions have made the home larger over the years. The building was once falling into disrepair and was restored in the late 1960s by the Haab family. In the mid-1990s, there were plans to make it a bed and breakfast; however it is now lawyer's offices.
8. Continue south to 121 N. Huron. This Italian Villa Style home was the Watling residence. Built c. 1870 in brick, it is L-shaped with a tall central tower characteristic of the style. The arched windows feature heavy pediments of stone. The tower features a mansard roof with dormer, while the main roofline is a front facing gable. Note the bay windows and small porch at the entrance, features of this style. Note the ocular window in the third story in the center of this front facing gable. There are large hoods over the two main story windows. The fenestration is symmetrical and there are double brackets in the main roofline of the home with single brackets supporting the tower roofline. The house was the first in the city to have electricity and running water.

John Watling was a dentist who taught at the then-new University of Michigan School of dentistry. His grandfather won 5,000 pounds in the English lottery and moved his family here. Watling's wife Eunice helped found the Ladies Literary Club in Ypsilanti. This home, like many others in town, was once apartments and is now a single family private home.
9. Next door at 119 N. Huron is the former Watling Dental Clinic. It was built to match the Watling home. It dates from the early 1890s. It is Richardsonian Romanesque in style. This style consists of heavy stonework and arches, seen here on the front facade of the narrow brick building. A massive red sandstone arch frames two stories of windows. There is a large front porch and bay windows on the sides. There is locust wood on the interior from Watling's farm. It is more of a commercial form of the Romanesque Style with a flat roof and heavy cornice. The building possibly was designed by famed Detroit architects Mason & Rice.

The home was restored by local architect Dennis Schmiedeke and his wife Jane. It is now two apartments. Continuing south on Huron Street, another possible detour on the route is Michigan Avenue and the downtown commercial area of the city. One can stop and go shopping for a bit, stop by the Convention and Tourism Bureau at 106 W. Michigan for brochures on where to visit next, visit a coffeehouse, restaurant or bar, or stop in the library at 229 W. Michigan.
10. To continue the walking tour, cross Michigan Avenue and continue south on Huron Street. Stop at 114 S. Huron Street. This 1890 Queen Anne Style home was built by J. F. Sanders. He was a merchant in the city. The house was designed by Von Falkenburg, an architect who often included towers and turrets on his buildings, which can clearly be seen in this house. The prominent stone and wood tower is topped with an unusual cone-shaped roof. The white, wood sided house also has porches on the first two stories on the front. These porches feature extensive use of wooden trim detailing and latticework. This is characteristic of the Queen Anne Style; a Victorian-era style where the more elaborate a house was, with more details, the better. Some of the windows are of stained glass. It has five chimneys piercing the multi, steeply gabled, green shingled roof. Note the bay windows and the eyebrow dormers in the south roofline on the third floor. Eyebrow dormers have low arched roofs that look like eyebrows.

From 1944 until 1967 the building was neglected. It was then purchased and renovated into six apartments. Restoration work is ongoing.
11. . Continue south, crossing Woodward, to 202 S. Huron. This is the Larzelere Home. Built in 1830 of brick (now painted yellow) it is Greek Revival with elements of Federal style. There are five bays(aligned vertical divisions of a building) across the front of the home with symmetrical windows and a fireplace at each end of the home. There are Greek Revival Style eave returns in the side facing gables of the low pitched roofline. This home may be made from two homes that were brought together in the center where the front door is now. The north and south ends have different stairways of the same type of wood. It is known that the home was built in at least three sections over a period of time. Note the enclosed porch on the south side of the home. The small front porch, or portico, with flat columns, or pilasters, is typical of the style of the building. Jacob Larzelere was a judge. Today the house is a private residence.
12. Continue next door to 206 S. Huron. This is an Eastlake Style home, with elements of the Stick Style. Built in the late 1870s, it was Louis Childs' home, a florist and grain dealer by profession. The asymmetrical wooden house has deep eaves, bay windows, a many-gabled steep roof, and Doric columns on the front wraparound porch. Note the perforated gables above a few of the second story windows. The decorative framing in the gables of the home reflects the interior frame of the house, and give it a three dimensional quality, an element of the Stick Style. The interior, once of eighteen rooms, is plain in decoration. Today the house is divided into four or five apartments.
13. Continue south to 212 S. Huron. Darwin Griffin, a lawyer, built this residence between 1903-05. It is stone and in the Queen Anne Style with Tudor Style elements. It has a slate roof with many steeply pitched gables. Note the small stones used as decoration in the tops of all the gables, even in the pediment above the front porch. There is intricate trim found in this pediment also. There also are projecting bay windows and large porches, consistent with the Queen Anne Style. The Tudor Style is seen in the half-timbering trim detail. Half-timbering was a method of filling the spaces between large wooden beams with brick or stucco. Today most half-timbering is decorative and not structural, as is the case here. There is an interesting stone carving above the front entry of this home, which is now apartments.
14. Continue south to 220 S. Huron for the next stop on the tour. This house has had some interesting residents. The Italianate Style home was built in the late 1870s by H. P. Glover. Lambert Barnes, who once lived in the home, was the Peninsular Paper Company President and a mayor at one time. Samuel Barnard also once lived here; he was vice-president of Peninsular Paper. Frank Newton, an avid antique collector who worked for Henry Ford at the Henry Ford Museum, also lived here and remodeled the home to have more Classical Revival details. Ford once visited the home. When Newton died in the 1960s, he left a house full of antiques. The home itself is classic Italianate in style with symmetrical windows, which are very narrow and high. The side porch features tall square shaped columns, added in 1925. The home is brick with a low pitched roof and deep eaves supported by ornate brackets.

The 5,000 square foot interior of the home has five bedrooms. One of the most interesting features is an 18th century New England tavern/kitchen brought here and set up in the basement of the home.
15. . Now turn and go across Huron Street at the light and walk north again, back the way you came. The next stop on the tour is 1 S. Huron, Ypsilanti's City Hall. The building was built in 1887 in the Richardsonian Romanesque Style for Ypsilanti Savings Bank. Originally taller with a steeply pitched Gothic Revival Style roofline with dormers, a fire early in its history reduced the size of the building. A metal facade was put on when that type of commercial facade was popular in the 1960s. Recent renovations have removed that metal facade to reveal the brick and detailed stonework underneath. The heavy stone arches over the lower story windows and heavy stone columns on the front are representative of the Richardsonian Romanesque Style. Those heavy columns once supported a porch; there are now windows in its place. Originally a bank, it has been city hall since the 1970s. The past photographs seen here probably speak louder than words about changes in style that can affect a building. The building is open on weekdays but nothing of the original interior exists.
16. Cross Michigan Avenue again and continue north on Huron Street. 130 N. Huron is the next stop on the walk. This square Italianate Style building was erected in 1858 by merchant Edwin Mills. Originally a home, it became the Ladies' Library building when Mary Ann Starkweather, a local philanthropist, gave the library the home in 1890. The projecting bay on the front was added then. The home features double symmetrical windows and a cupola in the low pitched roof. Built in brick with stone details, notice the words "Ladies Library" in the arch above the central double doors. A dentil course (Dentils are small identical teeth-like projections) runs along the roofline and the eaves are supported by heavy double brackets. There are wood carvings in the pediment of the central bay. Originally, a Tiffany & Co. window sat in the central bay's second story. The window can now be seen at the Ypsilanti Historical Museum. The building became the city library, then sat empty and was slated for demolition for a senior high rise apartment building, was saved, then became offices, and now is once again a private residence.
17. Walk north to the last stop on the tour at 206 N. Huron. This large home was built in 1863 by Delos Showerman. Daniel Quirk, Jr. also lived in the home and added the rectangular north addition in 1927. He was the son of the founder of Peninsular Paper; (His father's house was the second stop of our tour). The basic style of the home is Italianate. It has a slate roof with low slope, a large front porch, and symmetrical windows. The north addition is in the Georgian Revival Style, which is simpler and more formal than Italianate, (less trim and detailing). It was added as a library and ballroom to the home. Some of the luxuries of the home included a bathroom in every bedroom, which was very rare at the time. There was a buzzer system for servants, cedar lined built in drawers in the bedrooms, and triple-hung windows.

In 1956 it was purchased by the city and used as a courthouse. The wood paneled library became a courtroom with balconies around the edge of the room for viewing proceedings. Today the building houses law offices.

You can now proceed back to where you began at 220 N. Huron Street.
Stop 18