-
Lansing Fire Station #7
The bungalow style was introduced at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as an import from Colonial British India. Bungalow styling features low one storey construction with extensive verandas or porches. The large extended roof overhangs serve as welcome protection for a sheltered porch area as a shaded but open work/relaxing area was a welcomed feature on rainy or hot days. Bungalows fit nicely on the narrow row house lots typical of pre-automobile era and became an important part of the Arts & Crafts period that dominated until the middle 1920’s. The need for a second storey version of the bungalow led to the “semi-bungalow” version presented here, with the roof gable line running from side to side rather than front to back. The heavy roof eave brackets are also typical of the Arts & Crafts and earlier Italianate as are the massed small pane windows.
-
620 Jenison
When we first started looking for a home about seven years ago, we wanted an older house that had character and retained at least most of its historic features. We focused on this neighborhood because of its exceptional collection of vintage homes and tree-lined streets. We were quite surprised to find how aordable homes in this neighborhood really are. -Brian and Jodi, Homeowners
Here is a fine presentation of a “kruc” (crook) English cottage. This full two-story house uses a pseudo front eave line to look as a two cottage with full side dormers instead of looking as a simple two storey box. In medieval times when most peasant houses were simple “A” frame structures, a favored family could be permitted to select and cut for vertical framing, trees with natural crooks or bends that when paired, would provide added eave height and more usable space at the first storey. This home’s side entrance extension is most unusual. The six-over-one windows are massed and the cedar shingle exterior is uniquely American.
-
615 Westmoreland
We still have the sales listing from the LSJ classifieds about the 'For Sale By Owner' on Lansing's west side. We were very interested in this unique neighborhood, but thought we had to have a house with a screened-in porch. After a Sunday afternoon walk-thru, we fell in love with a porch-less house! -Homeowners, Rod and Sharon
This Arts & Crafts two story house has an interesting use of the gable and dormer peaks repeating the pattern with an attractive effect. The entrance door feature uses a variation of this pattern as do several of the windows in a most complimentary fashion. The cedar shingle exterior is an attractive pattern and texture and the four-over-one windows are typical of the Arts and Crafts period.
-
600 Dinsmore
Our ownership of this house began with neighborhood bike rides. Our prior residence was at the other end of the West Side. The rides would inevitably take us to Dinsmore Park and the unique brick house with the big porch in the middle of the block. Friends of ours told us that the owners were going to sell and they arranged for us to meet Don and Martha Smith and tour the house. They told us they were going to list the house and we asked them to wait a day. We went home, drafted an offer, which they accepted the next day. -Homeowners, Jeanne and Turney
This impressive Arts & Crafts styled brick house is dominated by the south facing porch with large arched openings away from the street exposure. The heavy eaves are supported with stylish brackets and the small paned massed large windows provide both texture and interior light.
-
424 Everett
When we planned to move to Lansing in 1976, Ellen was immediately attracted to the Westside Neighborhood. After an unsuccessful attempt to buy in the neighborhood we settled into a lovely house farther south....Though we planned changes to fit the house to our tastes we loved the layout, the spacious rooms, woodwork, back porch and sizeable fenced yard for our dog. Dorr & Hilda Gunnel, owners of a Lansing lumber and salvage business, built the house in 1939. We bought the house from Howard & Barbara Kelly becoming the third owners in 1984. -Homeowner, Mark and Ellen
English styling dominates the houses on this section of Everett Drive, and this fine Tudor cottage features a half timbered upper structure over a stone or brick lower storey. The entrance beams are reportedly salvaged from the original Ransom E. Olds Lansing factory as the builder of this fine 1939 house was the owner of the Capital City Wrecking Company. The slate tile roof was very typical of the British Isles and has survived 70 years of Michigan ice and snow picking at each tiles many edges and layers. Note the jerkenhead treatment of the gable roof ends and dormers. The more expensive casement windows fully open for better air flow.
-
430 Everett
We moved to the area in June 2006 to teach at Michigan State University and wanted some distance between our home and the campus. Everything about the Westside neighborhood appealed to us: the rainbow flags and “Peace” signs, the diverse architecture, flourishing gardens, abundant canine and human traffic, and friendly residents of varying ages and backgrounds. We rented a house in the neighborhood the first six months and when we started looking to buy we stopped at our current house “just for a peek.” The recessed lighting and speaker systems hooked us then the chef’s kitchen reeled us in. -Homeowners, Lynn and Jeff
The broad front roof eave at the 1st floor line serves to emphasize the 2 story cottage with a dormer feel to this basic two storey house. When constructed in the 1920’s, the Colonial Revival influences were bringing Greek and Roman elements to the prior Arts & Crafts period, and here the entrance door features such attractive detail. The six over one windows were transitional typical of the coming Colonial Revival Period which would use multiple lights for both upper and lower sashes, but were massed typical of the Arts and Crafts styling.
-
520 Verlinden
"This home was built for Lillian Rush in 1951 by her father who was a home builder. She was a nurse at Sparrow Hospital and lived in the house until the summer of 2006. I am very fortunate to be the second owner of this wonderful home to raise my two daughters Samantha (14) and Lillian (8). When looking for a home there wasn’t any other choice but to live in the Westside Neighborhood. We feel a great sense of community from our neighbors and friends." -Homeowner, John
This Cape Cod Cottage styled home is representative of the post WWII popular construction. Few houses had been built in the Depression and WWII years, so the 1950’s growing families needed bedrooms. This style of modest cottage provided two BR’s on the first floor, a possible two more in the loft area that could possibly be finished later as the family grew, and a full basement where additional bedrooms might be located. Here, a small extension of the living room forward made an L shaped first floor plan that greatly improved the home’s livability. The spare Cape Cod styling with little ornamentation suited both the hardscrabble early New England settlers and the young families of the 1950’s.