Fuerst, Jacob and Rebecca, Farmstead

The site and group of buildings collectively known as the Fuerst Farmstead is one of the most important historic resources in the city of Novi, primarily due to its status as one of only a few remaining intact farmsteads in Novi. Its history as a producing orchard is particularly significant since Novi was a primary area of fruit production in southeast Michigan in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Fuerst Farm remains intact, making it a critical symbolic presence in Novi. The site contains architectural remnants of the building that held the first township meeting in 1830, and it represents the past, present, and future of Novi, characterizing life on the farm in the Midwest in the years before World War II.

The Fuerst Farmstead is at present approximately six and one-half acres in area, located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Taft and Ten Mile Roads in Novi, Michigan. It is a rectangular site, with the long axis running north-south parallel to Taft Road. The site is adjoined on the east by the property of the Novi Public Library, which features a prominent installation of the circa 1914 Novi Township Hall, relocated from its original site on Novi Road. The house is a circa 1927 structure in the Arts and Crafts style. The house is approximately 28 feet wide, 45 feet deep, with an 8'-6" extension of the front porch. The main gable features an estimated 4:12 pitch, with the ridge running north-south. The exterior is clad in beveled clapboard siding and machine-cut wood shingles. The most striking features of the exterior of the house are the stone porch and the stone chimney, twenty-five feet in height. The site contains eleven structures: the house, four barns, an outhouse, a smokehouse, a pump house, a chicken coop, and two doghouses.