Ladies' Literary Club Building

In 1843 William M Davis purchased lot no. 330 on North Washington at Emmet from Arden Ballard, a prominent real estate developer, for $400. The house was probably built while Davis owned the property. It is a one-and-a-half-story Greek Revival residence. Davis was able to sell the property just two years after he bought for $3,000. Mary B. Grant, a widow, bought the house in 1851 after hers was destroyed by fire. In 1859 the outline of the house appeared on a land ownership map. When Mary Grant died she left the house to her son. He sold it to the Ladies' Literary Club in 1913. The building was studied by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936. HABS ascribed the house to Arden Ballard probably because of his reputation in real estate and because he owned another Greek Revival house nearby. (HABS had already studied the other Ballard house which was Ballard's residence throughout this period.) He is not known to have built any other Greek Revival houses on the many other pieces of property he owned. But contrary to HABS' findings, the telling increase in property valuation which took place in the short time William M. Davis owned the property suggests that it was he who built the house. The Ladies' Literary Club still occupies the house on North Washington. Removal of the cupola has greatly enhanced the appearance of the building, restoring its original Greek Revival lines. It is now one of the best examples of Greek Revival architecture in the area and its use of proportion and attractive position on a small corner lot make it the most appealing Greek Revival house in Ypsilanti.

The Ladies' Literary Club Building is a brick one-and-a-half-story Greek Revival temple-style house with a one-story wing. The building is fronted by a pedimented tetrastyle wood portico with tall square paneled Greek Doric columns. The frieze on the portico is interrupted by grilled openings; these are repeated on the sides of the frieze. There is a dentil course under the taenia and strapwork in the tympanum. The one-story side wing with a portico across the front has three square columns with wood tracery arches in the openings. The one-story frame wing at the rear with its projecting bay window is an addition. Probably the cupola which once graced the roof of the house was an addition as well. In any case it has been removed since the 1936 HABS study; this change allows the basically Greek Revival elements of the building to prevail.