A CITY OF HOMES

In the words of one author, Detroit is a “city of homes.” In the mid-20th century, Detroit was the wealthiest city in the world. Its population enjoyed a standard of living unknown anywhere else. But unlike New York, Boston, and Chicago, almost all of Detroit’s housing stock consisted of detached, single-family homes occupied by individual families.

Nowhere is this more apparent than Russell Woods-Sullivan, Detroit’s largest historic district, with over a thousand unique historic homes. Nearly all its homes were built with the same artisan construction methods as the mansions of Boston Edison and Palmer Woods. But the homes of Russell woods are three- and four-bedroom family homes, built for middle-class families.

Platted in 1925, Russell Woods has always prided itself on diversity. The neighborhood rejected discriminatory covenants in the early part of the 20th-century, becoming a haven for the Detroit’s Jewish community, who built beautiful synagogues and community centers. In the 1970s and 1980s, middle-class black families migrated into Russell Woods, attracted by its stately homes and egalitarian housing policies, bringing with them the neighborhood’s strong association with Motown and the struggle for civil rights.

Despite the decades of disinvestment in the city of Detroit, Russell Woods has always been supported by multi-generational homeowners and their love for a neighborly community. We offer over a thousand historic homes, ranging from styles such as Tudor Revival, Craftsman bungalows, Moderne, and Colonial Revival.

In our community anchor, the wonderful Russell Woods Park, we host our own annual programming, such as an Easter egg hunts, gospel concerts, a halloween party, and, of course, the famous Russell Woods Jazz Concert, which is a draw for people all over Southeast Michigan.