The William H. Wells House is a private residence located at 2931 East Jefferson Avenue 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 th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It 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 v ...

in 1985.

History

This house was designed by

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

architect William Henry Miller and constructed in 1889 by the Vinton company. At the time, the property was owned by the heirs of William Croul. William H. Wells, a partner in the law firm a partner in the law firm of Wells, Angell, Boynton and McMillan, moved into the house soon after it was constructed, and purchased it in 1900. After Wells' death, his widow sold the house to Ella Barbour, who owned the house until 1949. The University of Detroit Alumni Association purchased the house in 1966 and donated it to the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic universi ...

. The house went through a succession of owners, and was refurbished in 2000. Banyan Investments LLC purchased the house in 2015.

Architecture

The William H. Wells House is a two-and-one-half-story, 18,000 square feet

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

mansion, built of coursed, rock-face stone.Wells, William H., House
from the state of Michigan The house is built on an irregular plan with an asymmetrical, picturesque composition. The entrance is within a projection, and a turret with a concave conical roof at one corner sits at one corner of the house. Other bays project randomly from the main structure. A 4500 square foot -story carriage house in red brick and clapboard was built at the rear of the house in 1891. The house is significant as an outstanding example of Romanesque residential architecture in Detroit and for its association with architect William Henry Miller.

References

External links

Sale brochureInterior photos
{{East Jefferson Avenue Residential TR Houses in Detroit Houses completed in 1889 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Romanesque Revival architecture in Michigan Gilded Age mansions

History

Architecture

See also

References

Further reading

External links