Russell House

The Russell A. Alger, Jr. House is significant as a major work of the nationally prominent architect, Charles Adam Platt of New York. Though Platt renowned for his design of large country estates, designed a series of estates in the Grosse Pointe area, this is considered his most important commission. Designed in the Italian Renaissance style, the Alger House displays Platt's ability to integrate the house with its setting and gardens. The estate was the home of Russell A. Alger, Jr., the millionaire son of General Russell A. Alger, a Civil War hero, Detroit lumberman, Michigan Governor, U.S. Senator, and President McKinley's Secretary of War. Russell A. Alger, Jr. was one of the founders of the Packard Motor Car Company in 1903, and served as its vice president for many years. The junior Alger had the house built in 1910 and resided there until his death on January 26, 1930. In 1949 the Alger family donated the estate to the Grosse Pointe War Memorial Fund, now the Grosse Pointe War Memorial Association, for use as a community cultural center.

The Russell A. Alger, Jr. house is a stone trimmed, stuccoed Italian Renaissance style mansion located amidst 4.5 acres of landscaped grounds on the shore of Lake St. Clair in Grosse Pointe Farms, a suburban Detroit community. Built in 1910, the house is situated on one of the highest pieces of ground on the Michigan shoreline of Lake St. Clair. Architect Charles A. Platt took full advantage of the site, designing the house with major room orientations towards the lake and integrating the house with garden and landscape features which overlook and lead to the lake. Two stories on the street side, the house opens to three stories facing the lake. The main section of the house is a rectangular block with symmetrically designed street and lakeside facades and is topped with a low pitched, tiled hip roof. The house and grounds retain their original appearance and are now used as a community cultural center.