The Samuel L. Smith House is located at 5035

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 ...

in Midtown

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 ...

. It was also known as the Schools Annex. 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 ...

in 1986.

History

This house was built in 1889 for $17,000, for William C. WilliamsSamuel L. Smith Home
from Detroit1701.org by the architectural firm of Rogers and MacFarlane in what was then a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Detroit. Williams was a Detroit businessman who was instrumental in organizing the

Detroit College of Medicine The Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) is the medical school of Wayne State University, a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,500 students in undergraduate medical education, master's degree, P ...

, later incorporated into

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. The next year, Williams sold the home to its most famous resident, Samuel L. Smith.Woodwared Avenue
website Smith was one of the most prominent citizens of Detroit at the time, having made his fortune in lumber, shipping, mining and railroad ventures. In particular, Smith's investments in the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company made him tremendously wealthy. He later financed many automobile ventures, most notably the

Olds Motor Works Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it prod ...

in the late 1890s. Smith lived in the home for 27 years, after which it was purchased by the Detroit Music Conservatory. A few years later, the Conservatory built a two-story rear addition that connected the main house to the original carriage house. In 1960,

purchased the building to serve as the home for

WDET WDET-FM (101.9 MHz) is a public radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Broadcasting from Wayne State University in the city's Cass Corridor neighborhood, about a mile south of the New Center neighborhood, WDET broadcasts original programming and ...

and WSU's Office of the Center of Instructional Technology. In 1979, the

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 ...

bought the building, using it until 2003 when WSU repurchased it.

Description

The Samuel L. Smith House is a three-story, cross-gabled Queen Anne building with Romanesque and Colonial Revival elements. The house is square in plan, and constructed of red brick that has since been painted a light grey. A round corner tower is on one side of the facade, balanced by a Romanesque front entry arch. A bay window is located above the main entrance. The gable ends are decorated with windows, fanlights, and other designs. The center front gable end contains swag motifs and a Colonial style window, the south gable contains a Palladian window, and the north gable a large Colonial window with a fanlight. The interior of the house contains oak wainscoting and moldings, and many fireplaces throughout the building. A leaded glass window in the northers wall contains the coat of arms and the initials of William C. Williams. A two-story rear addition, dating from approximately 1920, connects the main house to the original two-story, red brick, cross-gabled carriage house.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Culture of Detroit Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Houses in Detroit Wayne State University Houses completed in 1889 National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Woodward Avenue Queen Anne architecture in Michigan