Michigan’s mansions reflect a rich architectural history, capturing the state’s evolution from industrial hub to cultural crossroads. These homes showcase a range of styles, each tied to a distinct period.
The David Whitney House in Detroit is a prime example of Romanesque Revival architecture, built with durable pink jasper stone and defined by its rounded arches and crenellated roofline. Its interior balances functionality with opulence, featuring Tiffany glass and carved wood details that highlight 19th-century craftsmanship.
Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester embraces Tudor Revival design, with its limestone walls, timber accents, and leaded windows nodding to English manor houses. Built in the late 1920s, it combines historical inspiration with contemporary touches, emphasizing quality materials and meticulous design.
In Muskegon, the Hackley home represents the Queen Anne style at its most expressive. Turrets, stained-glass windows, and intricate woodwork make these homes standout examples of Victorian-era design.
Laurium’s Hoatson House offers a more restrained take on Richardsonian Romanesque. Its stone exterior exudes solidity, while the interior surprises with refined woodwork and stained-glass details. These mansions tell the story of Michigan’s past through their architectural choices, reflecting the aspirations of their builders and the trends of their times.
15. Castle Farms, Charlevoix
Castle Farms in Charlevoix is where agriculture met architectural flair, thanks to Albert Loeb, a Sears, Roebuck & Co. executive with a taste for both livestock and limestone. Built in 1917–1918 as a model farm, it wasn’t just a place to showcase Loeb’s prized Holsteins and Belgian horses; it was a stage-set of French Normandy castles rendered in rugged Michigan fieldstone. Chicago architect Arthur Heun masterminded the estate’s design, creating a blend of function and fairytale that sprawled over 1,600 acres.
The dairy and horse barns are architectural gems. The dairy complex’s U-shaped design is crowned by high-hip roofs, silos like sentinels, and a service wing with an arched gateway. The horse barn features dormers piercing its steep roof and a massive octagonal icehouse anchoring the courtyard.
Loeb’s farm operated like a pastoral empire, selling everything from butter to Belgian bloodlines until financial woes ended its run in 1927. From rock concerts to a modern wedding venue, its uses have changed, but Castle Farms retains its charm.
14. Scripps Mansion, Lake Orion
The Scripps Mansion, formerly known as Moulton Manor, is a sprawling Norman/Tudor Revival masterpiece nestled in Orion Township, Michigan. Built in 1927 for William Edmund Scripps, scion of the Detroit News dynasty and founder of WWJ radio station, the estate blends aristocratic grandeur with a functional farmstead.
Architecturally, the mansion’s Tudor influences dominate, with steep gables, half-timbered facades, and towering chimneys evoking the English countryside. Its interiors once featured rich wood paneling, intricate plasterwork, and stained-glass windows. Surrounding the estate, Scripps’ 3,000-acre farm operated as a microcosm of Depression-era self-sufficiency, boasting Angus cattle, poultry, and even a schoolhouse for employees’ children.
The property’s most captivating moment came in 1929 when Amelia Earhart, a guest of Scripps, tested an experimental glider over the estate’s airfield. Scripps, an aviation pioneer himself, later founded Gliders, Inc.
Today, while much of the estate has been repurposed as public parks or commercial spaces, the mansion remains a relic of Michigan’s Jazz Age — a Norman castle overlooking the remnants of its agrarian empire.
13. Wenzel House, Saginaw
The Wenzel House in Saginaw, Michigan, may be a modest Italianate gem, but it doesn’t skimp on architectural charm. Built in 1874 for a local harness maker, the two-story frame structure reflects a time when even middle-class homes aimed for a touch of elegance. Its low-pitched hip roof and bracketed eaves make it quintessentially Italianate, a style that radiated confidence and prosperity during the post-Civil War boom.
The design plays with symmetry without becoming rigid. The facade is interrupted by a bold pediment that breaks the eavesline, injecting just enough drama to keep things interesting. A twelve-pane belvedere, perched atop the roof, offers a functional centerpiece — part lookout, part ventilation system, and wholly decorative. The belvedere’s arched roofline adds a flourish without tipping into excess.
A one-story rear wing anchors the house with practicality, complete with a porch. The front porch, a later addition, brings a more formal air with its hipped roof, columns, and balustrade, nodding to neoclassical trends of the late 19th century.
12. Charles H. Hackley House, Muskegon
The Charles H. Hackley House in Muskegon is Queen Anne architecture at its most flamboyant. Completed in 1889, this three-story marvel was crafted by architect David S. Hopkins and outfitted with intricate woodwork by the Kelly Brothers. It sits shoulder-to-shoulder with the Hume House, its equally grand neighbor, in a genteel lumber-baron showdown for architectural bragging rights.
Hackley’s residence is a tour de force of late Victorian design. Its asymmetrical silhouette features a many-sided roof punctuated by gables and crowned by a three-story corner tower. The exterior wears a carefully reconstructed 13-color paint scheme that’s bold without being gaudy — a nod to the Victorian love of visual drama. The porte-cochere and stained glass windows, ranging from horseshoe-shaped to round, add touches of elegance and eccentricity in equal measure.
Step into the carved, colonnaded interiors, and the craftsmanship demands attention. Walls are adorned with ceramic tiles and fabric panels, while every inch of woodwork is an ode to skilled labor, from acanthus leaves to carved figures. Meanwhile, the Hume House, built for Hackley’s business partner, Thomas Hume, mirrors the grandeur but leans into its own distinct personality. Together, the two homes form a historic pairing, showcasing the peak of Muskegon’s lumber wealth in wood, glass, and stone.
11. Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester
Meadow Brook Hall is as sprawling as it is striking, a nod to both English nobility and Detroit’s automotive wealth. Built between 1926 and 1929, the estate sprawls over 88,000 square feet and boasts 110 rooms, making it one of the largest historic house museums in the United States. Designed by architect William Kapp of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, it was commissioned by Matilda Dodge Wilson, heiress to the Dodge automotive fortune, and her second husband, lumber magnate Alfred Wilson.
Kapp’s Tudor Revival design melds stone, brick, and timber into an elaborate yet cohesive whole. The plaster ceilings, meticulously crafted by Corrado Parducci, echo medieval English craftsmanship, while the interiors feature a cavalcade of fine art and antiques. Portraits by Anthony van Dyck and John Constable share space with Stickley furniture, Tiffany glass, and Rookwood pottery, making each room an encyclopedic showcase of early 20th-century taste.
10. Cranbrook House, Bloomfield Hills
This Arts and Crafts masterpiece, built in 1908 for George and Ellen Booth, is a celebration of simplicity meeting sophistication. The red brick façade is understated, but step through its doors, and the intricate woodwork and handcrafted details reveal the artistry behind this early 20th-century gem.
Designed by Detroit’s architectural titan Albert Kahn, Cranbrook House channels the ideals of the American Arts and Crafts movement into brick, mortar, and a sprawling vision. The house became the Booths’ year-round retreat in Bloomfield Hills, where they were the first wealthy family to reside permanently. Tapestries, wood carvings, furniture, and decorative art by artisans on both sides of the Atlantic filled its rooms, while Pewabic tiles by Mary Chase Stratton decorated its fountains and hearths.
By 1944, the Booths deeded the house and its property to the Cranbrook Foundation, paving the way for the Cranbrook Educational Community. Once nearly lost to demolition, the estate now serves as the heart of a cultural and educational legacy.
9. Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores
The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores stands as a monumental achievement in Tudor Revival architecture, designed by Albert Kahn and situated on 87 acres of meticulously landscaped grounds by Jens Jensen. Constructed between 1926 and 1928, this estate embodies the Fords’ refined taste, blending historical reverence with modern ingenuity.
Inspired by England’s Cotswolds, the sandstone exterior mimics weathered medieval village homes, while the slate roof, decreasing in shingle size toward the peak, displays an artisanal touch. Ivy creeps across the façade, lending an air of aged elegance. Antique wood paneling, rescued from crumbling English manor houses, frames rooms like the oak-laden Gallery, where a sixteenth-century chimneypiece from Worcestershire dominates the scene. Walter Dorwin Teague’s Art Deco touches, including mirrored walls and taupe leather panels in the Modern Room, contrast with the old-world ambiance.
Jensen’s gardens offer sweeping views punctuated by hidden rose gardens and reflecting pools. The estate’s grounds are as thoughtfully designed as the house, creating a seamless dialogue between architecture and landscape.
8. George Jerome House, Detroit
The George Jerome House, once commanding a narrow lot at 85 Alfred Street in Detroit’s Brush Park, was a Victorian showstopper with attitude. Built in 1877 for lawyer George Jerome, the mansion’s dramatic spire and octagonal tower soared above its neighbors.
Though the architect is unconfirmed, the house shares a stylistic kinship with the George O. Robinson House nearby, linking it to Henry T. Brush, a master of Detroit’s flamboyant Victorian scene. Over-sized brackets propped up an exaggerated cornice, while classical detailing fought for attention with the multi-colored slate roof.
Arriving guests stepping out of their carriages would have landed on a custom stone block proudly etched with “Jerome”—a 19th-century flex if ever there was one. With its pale hues standing in contrast to the dark brick facades of its neighbors, the Jerome House maintained a singular style.
7. Charles T. Fisher House, Detroit
The Charles T. Fisher House is the kind of Tudor Revival mansion that whispers “old money” while shouting “auto money” from every ornately carved corner. Built in 1922 for Charles T. Fisher, co-founder of Fisher Body, this 16,000-square-foot masterpiece anchored Detroit’s Boston-Edison neighborhood, where industry titans turned their fortunes into architectural splendor. George Mason, the architect behind the Fisher family’s cathedral of industry (the Fisher Building), designed this residential showpiece,.
Guests entered through iron-and-glass doors fit for royalty, into a foyer flaunting a plaster ceiling and an English walnut staircase guarded by lions clutching Cadillac shields. For added flair, Fisher installed a mahogany organ with pipes snaking across three floors, ensuring every soirée had its soundtrack.
The library, originally a billiard room until Sarah Fisher evicted the cigar-chomping men downstairs, features painted ceilings and a European fireplace carved with the seasons. The dining room gleams with restored gold-leaf moldings, while the sunroom dazzles with Flint Faience tiles — a quirky offshoot of spark-plug production.
The basement boasts a ballroom, pub room, and a Prohibition-era liquor vault discreetly connected to the carriage house by a secret tunnel. It’s Tudor Revival meets Roaring Twenties indulgence — a mansion that defines Detroit’s golden age of swagger and innovation.
6. Fair Lane, Dearborn
Fair Lane, the 1,300-acre Dearborn estate of Henry and Clara Ford, is a masterclass in architectural and landscape experimentation, blending Prairie Style origins with English Manor details. Originally shaped by Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision, the design passed through the hands of Marion Mahony Griffin, one of America’s first women architects, before ultimately being completed by Joseph Nathaniel French in 1915. The resulting 31,000-square-foot limestone residence is both sprawling and understated, with 56 rooms that house everything from an indoor pool to a bowling alley.
The Prairie Style roots persist in the low-slung horizontality and integration with the landscape, but the English Manor influences add a veneer of domestic formality. The powerhouse, designed with limestone to echo the house, is a multi-functional marvel: part hydropower generator, part garage, part Edison-blessed laboratory.
Jens Jensen’s landscape design is as much a feat of storytelling as the house itself. His “delayed view” approach leads visitors through dense woodlands before revealing the home. Meandering paths, naturalistic flower massings, and axial meadows frame the estate.
5. Voigt House, Grand Rapids
Carl G.A. Voigt’s 1895 mansion in Grand Rapids is a Victorian treasure chest locked in time. Designed by local architect William G. Robinson with a nod to France’s Château de Chenonceaux, this stately home combines European grandeur with Midwest practicality. Voigt, a prosperous mill operator and dry goods entrepreneur, spared no expense in creating a residence as impressive as his business successes.
The house’s pièce de résistance is its preserved first floor, last updated in 1907. Original silk wall coverings and carpeting remain, along with opulent furnishings owned by the Voigt family. The mansion was passed down to Carl Voigt’s youngest son, Ralph, who lived here until his death in 1971.
4. Joseph H. Berry Mansion, Grosse Pointe Farms
Constructed in 1882, the Joseph H. Berry House, affectionately dubbed “Edgemere,” was a masterpiece by Detroit’s celebrated architectural duo, Mason & Rice. Sitting regally at 50 Lake Shore Drive, this Tudor-inspired manor marked the evolution of Grosse Pointe from a summer getaway to a year-round haven for Detroit’s elite. With its Richardson Romanesque flair, the home stood as a fortress of dark masonry, low-slung arches, and intricate brickwork—a bold aesthetic that nodded to the grandeur of English manor houses.
Edgemere’s sprawling 15-acre grounds stretched from Lake St. Clair to Kercheval, a landscape meticulously cultivated by Berry himself. A widower and devoted father of three, he shunned the social whirl of his peers, instead immersing himself in the art of horticulture. Formal gardens, fruit trees, and cutting-edge greenhouses brimmed with his prized orchids and fresh produce, irrigated by one of the area’s first in-ground sprinkler systems.
Inside, the house balanced Victorian decorative flourishes with practical design, reflecting Berry’s focus on functionality over ostentation. Though demolished in 1942, Berry’s impact remains visible in the mature trees he planted throughout the neighborhood.
3. George S. Frost House, Detroit
The George S. Frost House, built in 1881, was a Queen Anne-style home in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood. Designed during a period of architectural exuberance, the mansion reflected the hallmarks of the Queen Anne movement: asymmetrical design, textured façades, and decorative woodwork. Its likely features included prominent gables, intricate trim, and perhaps a turret or bay window to accentuate its street presence.
Commissioned by George Smith Frost, a land commissioner for the Saint Mary’s Falls Ship Canal Company, the house represented both his professional success and Brush Park’s status as a hub for Detroit’s upper class in the late 19th century.
2. Thomas H. Hoatson House, Laurium
The Thomas H. Hoatson House, completed in 1908, is a Neo-Classical statement piece tucked into Laurium, Michigan, standing as the largest mansion in the western Upper Peninsula. Architect Charles Maass spared no detail, creating a 13,000-square-foot, 45-room showcase of early 20th-century design ingenuity and opulence, commissioned as a surprise for Hoatson’s wife and children.
The exterior presents a symmetrical façade with clapboard siding atop a red sandstone foundation. A grand portico with Corinthian columns dominates the entry, flanked by wide, one-story porches. Above, a hipped roof and dormer windows lend a stately air to the timber-framed home.
Inside, the detailing elevates the architecture to another level. The first-floor reception hall spans an impressive 40 feet with a triple staircase. The library, dining room, and den blend of practicality and flair, with iridescent tile surrounds and murals punctuating the spaces. Bedrooms and baths on the second and third floors, along with a cedar room and billiards hall, reflect both luxury and livability.
1. David Whitney House, Detroit
The David Whitney House, constructed between 1890 and 1894, is a 21,000-square-foot monument to Victorian architecture in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood. Designed by architect Gordon W. Lloyd, the house exemplifies Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne styles, with an exterior clad in pink South Dakota jasper.
Inside, the house is a masterclass in late-19th-century design and ingenuity. Tiffany glass windows dominate the space, with their themes tailored to each room — musical motifs in the music room and a knight figure on the grand staircase. The mansion features 52 rooms, including 10 bathrooms, a dining room with a secret vault, and Detroit’s first residential elevator, a hallmark of modernity at the time. Intricate wood paneling, carved plaster ceilings, and 20 fireplaces round out the elaborate interior.
Following its time as a private residence, the house has served as a restaurant and cultural touchstone, offering a glimpse into Detroit’s architectural and social history.
