Palmer Woods Historic District

About this property

The Palmer Woods Historic District is a neighborhood located in Detroit, Michigan, bounded by Seven Mile Road, Woodward Avenue, and Strathcona Drive. There are approximately 295 homes in the 188-acre (0.76 km2) district, which is between the City of Highland Park in Wayne County and the City of Ferndale in Oakland County. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The Detroit Golf Club is nearby. The Palmer Woods Historic District is named after Thomas W. Palmer, a prominent citizen of nineteenth-century Detroit and a United States Senator. Palmer's estate included land on both sides of Woodward Avenue, stretching from Six Mile Road to Eight Mile Road. During his lifetime, Palmer donated some of his land to the city of Detroit to establish Palmer Park, and he gave additional land to the state of Michigan to build the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Palmer died in 1913; two years later, Detroit real-estate developer Charles W. Burton purchased the section of Palmer's estate that now encompasses the Palmer Woods Historic District. Burton envisioned an exclusive neighborhood catering to Detroit's richest citizens, with room for spacious and elegant homes. He hired the landscape architect Ossian Cole Simonds to design the layout of the development. Cole laid out a subdivision with gently curving streets, capitalizing on the natural beauty of the area and creating a park-like atmosphere in the neighborhood. Curbs are nonexistent, minimizing the transition from street to lawn and discouraging pedestrian traffic, and every lot in the neighborhood had a unique shape. Many Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival style homes were constructed between about 1917 and 1929. The neighborhood received the Michigan Horticultural Society's Award of Merit in 1938 for being the finest platted subdivision in Michigan. After World War II, additional mansions were constructed. In 2007 and 2008, there were around 24 residential properties that were vacant. By 2011, the community established its own private security service. By 2014, housing prices, which had previously declined, began to rebound. As of 2020, the neighborhood had a median household income of $155,917. Ethnically, Palmer Woods is 74.8% African American, 17.1% European American, and 6.2% Hispanic. Palmer Woods is known for its elm-lined streets with large brick and stone homes in Tudor Revival architecture, set back from the street behind contiguous uninterrupted lawn. Lots are large, with ample room for trees, play equipment, and a good expanse of grass. There may be coats of arms, leaded or stained glass windows, and other features (such as elevators) in some of the homes. Various properties boast more than one structure, such as a house and guest house, or maids' quarters. Streets gently curve through the forested neighborhood.

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.