Tree-lined streets of clapboard houses stretch around you here in Ann Arbor, a residential pocket earning national recognition in 1972. The district is roughly bounded by 7th Street, Main Street from Pauline to Madison, the railroad tracks from Madison to Liberty, Huron Street, Pauline Boulevard, and Crest Avenue. Look closely and you’ll see the range of architecture that marks 19th century midwestern America: small, one-family homes on tree-lined streets, typically two stories in height with six or seven rooms.
About 85% of the houses are frame construction and the majority are clad with clapboard; roughly 15% are brick, and a number wear shingled or stucco exteriors. Many display front-gabled roofs and wide, pillared front porches, while the larger houses, especially along West Liberty, tend to be more irregular in plan with additional side porches. The neighborhood’s preservation was strengthened when the non-profit Old West Side Association formed in 1967 to promote conservation.
About 85% of these houses are frame, most of them clad in clapboard, and the larger ones along West Liberty spread out with extra side porches.