Photo of the Week: Historic Queen Anne House in Ypsilanti

I’ve always admired the house on Cross Street.

I call it the “purple home on Cross Street and Prospect,” but I suspect it has a more meaningful historic name for the person/family who built the house.

The house in Ypsilanti, Michigan’s historic East Side district stands out with its white picket fence, sharp angles, and color-coordinated shades of purple.

I remember when I first noticed it, a few years after I graduated from college.

I started a job at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but lived in Ypsilanti.

On weekends, I would ride my bike down Cross Street on my way to Depot Town and Eastern Michigan University.

Since the house was at the intersection across from a shaded park near a school, I would stop for a break in my bike ride.

And gaze at it and the other 100+ year-old homes in the area.

About the Historic House

According to the Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation, the house on Cross Street was built in 1873.

Its irregularly-shaped steep pitch roofs and cutaway bay windows are characteristic of the Queen Anne style.

In addition, the house has a cross-gabled roof with jerkinheads on gable ends and a spindlework porch.

Inside, each story has a different wall surface, also a characteristic of the Queen Anne style.

In 2023, the house will celebrate its 150th anniversary.

My research revealed it was once the home of Frederick Swaine, who was called “The Father of Classical Music in Michigan” by Frederic Pease (for whom Pease Hall is named at Eastern Michigan University).

If you’re in the Ypsilanti area and know any other background history about the house, who built it, or other info, share it in the comments.