Henry Simmons Frieze House, 1860

1547 Washtenaw Avenue

Henry Simmons Frieze House, 1860

When Professor and Mrs. Henry Frieze located their country estate east of town on the main Ypsilanti Road, across from the J. D. Baldwin farm, they acquired seven acres with a fine stand of trees. Skilled stone masons from Guelph, Ontario, worked on the house, which features the soft colors and solid textures of locally cut stone. It is unique in the Ann Arbor area since few houses designed in the Italianate mode are articulated in such fine masonry work. The cornices, balconies and porch add elegance, charm, and a dramatic play of shadows to the stately residence. The generously sized rooms with eleven foot ceilings are finished with walnut and butternut woodwork. The landscaping is characteristic of the man for whom the house was built, for Frieze was devoted to nature and art and gave the turf, trees and rose hedges his personal attention.

When Frieze, a Professor of Latin at the University of Michigan, became acting president of the University in 1869, he sold the estate to "Deacon" Augustus Scott, a wealthy and retired gentleman from Toledo, who for almost thirty years made it the center of Ann Arbor social life. Scott added the cupola.

In 1898 the Frieze house was purchased by Horace L. Wilgus, professor of law. The Wilgus daughter married geography professor Stanley D. Dodge and they lived in the house, keeping it in the family until the William G. Shepherd family acquired the home in 1969. The Shepherds restored the slate roof and were active in a local group organized to protect and preserve the character of the Hill-Washtenaw area until they left Ann Arbor in the 1980s.