Joseph Campau House

The Campau House is architecturally significant as one of the oldest residential structures in Detroit, and its link with the Campau family is also noteworthy. The land on which the house stands was originally part of the Joseph Campau farm, a large tract of land awarded to Jean Louis Campau (Joseph Campau’s grandfather) by the French government in 1734. By 1803 Joseph Campau was among Detroit’s leading citizens and wealthiest landowners. It is reasonable to assume that this Campau House was erected after 1827 when Jefferson Avenue was extended eastward toward the Grosse Pointes due to the fact that it faces the road rather than the river, which would have been the custom prior to that year.

The house is the second to stand on that site, and it is the only residence that can be identified with Joseph Campau. Joseph Campau evidently did not live here, however, and it is not known for whom he constructed this house.

The Joseph Campau House is the oldest structure of the nominated group of residential buildings. It is a modest, two-story structure located on the southeast side of East Jefferson Avenue. It has white-painted, flush board siding on its Jefferson Avenue facade and clapboard siding elsewhere. A one-story early twentieth-century porch spans the symmetrical, three-bay front facade, and decoration is limited to a pedimental window head and gable above the center window in the second story, and to a plain entablature board under the eaves on the sides of the house.