Virginia Park Historic District

The Virginia Park Historic District is located in Detroit, Michigan, along both sides of Virginia Park Street from Woodward Avenue to the John C. Lodge Freeway access road. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.The Virginia Park Historic District is an example of a well–preserved late nineteenth to early twentieth century residential community. The residences are testimonials to the wealth of early Virginia Park residents, as the area was conceived as an upper-middle class enclave. Many homes were completed by prominent Detroit architects, and display a diversity of architectural styles.HistoryThe district was laid out in 1893 by developed by John W. Leggett, Frank E. Snow, and Joseph C. Hough. Ninety-two lots were platted and each given a name (such as Tanglewood, Thisteldown, and Sorrento) in the original plat. The developers placed a number of restrictions on the area to ensure an attractive community. This quiet boulevard attracted a mix of businessmen and professionals. The first houses were constructed in 1895, and by 1908 more than two dozen houses had been constructed in the district.By 1910, homeowners became concerned about the effect of the increasing commercialization of Woodward Avenue on property values, and they formed the Virginia Avenue Improvement Association. The association proposed to re-landscape the subdivision, and it developed an attractive entrance to the community. The neighborhood continued to thrive during the 1920s, but in the 1930s it suffered from the Great Depression, the effects of which continued through the 1940s. By the 1950s and 1960s, many of the houses had absentee landlords, or were divided into rooming houses. The Algiers Motel, at one time located at the corner of Virginia Park and Woodward, was the scene of an incident of police brutality during the 1967 Detroit riot where three men were killed and others were beaten.