Palmer Park Boulevard Apartments District

About this property

The Palmer Park Boulevard Apartments District is a collection of three apartment buildings located in Highland Park, Michigan. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. In the early 1920s, the architect Richard H. Marr entered into a partnership with businessman R.B. Oberteuffer (under the name The Fairway Company) to design and build an upscale apartment building at the corner of what was then known as Palmer Park Boulevard and Twelfth Street (now McNichols and Rosa Parks). The development was in response to the growth of the area due to the nearness of both Palmer Park and the Detroit Golf Club. Marr and Oberteuffer built the Fairway in 1923. Soon after, the Young Construction Company hired Marr to design four more apartment buildings along Palmer Park Boulevard: The Southcourse, built in 1924, and the Douglas, Northcourse, and Georgian Apartments, all constructed in 1925. When finished, the five apartment buildings formed a symmetric grouping, with the end buildings essentially alike in design. The first occupants of the apartments tended to be professionals, small business owners, and executives of larger firms. Because of the location, these buildings became some of the most exclusive addresses in Highland Park. However, the two easternmost buildings, the Fairway and the Douglas, suffered severe fire damage and were demolished in the 1990s. The three remaining apartment buildings sit adjacent to each other, and in addition to the architectural similarity, all share a uniform height, setback, and general plan. The Georgian Apartments, located at 1981 W. McNichols, was once the center building in the five-building array of apartments. It is a symmetrical, three-story E-plan Georgian Revival structure, and is both larger and differently shaped than the other four original apartment buildings. The building is faced with red brick with limestone trim, and the entire building is topped with a dentil cornice. A retaining wall in the front of the building connects the top and bottom arms of the E, and forms a raised entrance courtyard. Three entrances lead off this court: one in the center leg of the E and one on the inside of each arm. The front facades of each arm consist of three bays, the central one slightly projecting and crowned with a pediment. Windows on the first floor are inset into arches; those on the upper floors have flat tops. The central arm facade holds the most prominent entrance, with rusticated stone on the first floor and a stone pavilion with a deeply recessed doorway. When built, the Georgian offered well-equipped apartments with a large living room, fully equipped kitchen with butler's pantry, three bedrooms, two baths, and a maid's bedroom with bath. There were five apartments per floor, each of approximately 2750 square feet.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Wayne County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Wayne County.

More historic places in Michigan

Browse all historic places in Michigan.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Michigan history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.