Newberry-Walker House

The Franklin H. Walker House is significant for its association with the Walker family, for its architectural character, and for its association with architect George D. Mason. Mason designed the house for Franklin H.

Walker (of the Hiram Walker Distillery family) in 1896. The house is notable for its immense size and picturesque use of diverse building materials and medieval motives. George Mason began his career as an architect in the office of Mortimer L. Smith and in 1875 he began to work for Henry T.

Brush, with whom he later collaborated on several major Detroit projects. He achieved great prominence through his partnership with Zachariah Rice, designing many of Detroit's largest hotels, churches, and public and commercial buildings. Mason designed several other significant structures along East Jefferson Avenue which have been razed.

The Walker House, located on the southeast side of East Jefferson Avenue, is a massive Neo-Jacobean-style house which is irregular in plan and two and one-half stories in height. The Jefferson Avenue facade is constructed of brown brick and rock-faced limestone. An engaged, octagonal tower with pointed roof projects from the northeast corner of the house, imparting a strong medieval character to the design. At the opposite end of the Jefferson Avenue facade is a two-story, three-sided bay window unit, faced with limestone.

The gable roof is tile-covered. Walls at the gable ends terminate in limestone-capped fractonles. This is the largest house remaining on East Jefferson Avenue.