The Virginia Park Historic District is located on the north side of New Center, an area in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, along both sides of Virginia Park Street from

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...

to the John C. Lodge Freeway access road. The district was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982. The Virginia Park Historic District is an example of a well–preserved late nineteenth to early twentieth century residential community. The residences are testimonials to the wealth of early Virginia Park residents, as the area was conceived as an upper-middle class enclave. Many homes were completed by prominent Detroit architects, and display a diversity of architectural styles.

History

The district was laid out in 1893 by developed by John W. Leggett, Frank E. Snow, and Joseph C. Hough. Ninety-two lots were platted and each given a name (such as Tanglewood, Thisteldown, and Sorrento) in the original plat. The developers placed a number of restrictions on the area to ensure an attractive community. This quiet boulevard attracted a mix of businessmen and professionals. The first houses were constructed in 1895, and by 1908 more than two dozen houses had been constructed in the district. By 1910, homeowners became concerned about the effect of the increasing commercialization of Woodward Avenue on property values, and they formed the Virginia Avenue Improvement Association. The association proposed to re-landscape the subdivision, and it developed an attractive entrance to the community. The neighborhood continued to thrive during the 1920s, but in the 1930s it suffered from the Great Depression, the effects of which continued through the 1940s. By the 1950s and 1960s, many of the houses had absentee landlords, or were divided into rooming houses. The Algiers Motel, at one time located at the corner of Virginia Park and Woodward, was the scene of an incident of police brutality during the

1967 Detroit riot The 1967 Detroit Riot, also known as the 12th Street Riot or Detroit Rebellion, was the bloodiest of the urban riots in the United States during the "Long, hot summer of 1967". Composed mainly of confrontations between Black residents and the De ...

where three men were killed and others were beaten. In 1979, General Motors announced its plan to renovate the area north of its World Headquarters. This fostered rehabilitation in the Virginia Park district. The Algiers Motel was demolished in 1979, and replaced with a park space. The Virginia Park Historic District is considered to mark the northern boundary of the New Center area of Detroit. In 2022, one of Detroit’s last remaining brick roads, built in 1907 in Virginia Park, has begun a $2 million rehabilitation. Stretching three blocks along Virginia Park Street between Woodward Ave, and the Lodge Freeway. As many as 20,000 age appropriate Nelsonville block pavers have been assembled for the repair work.

Description

The Virginia Park District was platted as a series of lots 50 feet wide and 163 feet deep. The original restrictions in the neighborhood ensured a uniformity in the streetscape. All buildings are constructed of brick or stone, and have the same setback from the street. All are single family houses, with no more than one house on each fifty foot lot. At the time of its historic designation, the district included 57 structures, all but three of which contribute to the historic character of neighborhood. Non-contributing structures included an apartment building at 650 Virginia Park, an office building at 613 Virginia Park, and a hospital (demolished in 2014) at 801-831 Virginia Park. Fifty-one of the contributing structures were used as homes, two as offices and one as a rest home. The residences were constructed between 1895 and 1915, with the older structures placed closer to Woodward, and newer ones, in general, farther westward.

Education

The area is zoned to

Detroit Public Schools Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...

. All residents are zoned to Thirkell Elementary School, Hutchins Middle School, and Northwestern High School.High School Boundary Map
" ''

''. Retrieved on November 7, 2009.

Images

File:Virginia Park House 1.jpg, House in Virginia Park. File:Virginia Park House 2.jpg, House in Virginia Park.

Notes

References and further reading

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External links

* {{Michigan 1895 establishments in Michigan Historic districts in Detroit Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit