Upton, William, House

The William Upton House was built in 1866-67 and today is the oldest house remaining in Sterling Heights and is one of only a few surviving nineteenth-century houses in the city. The house is a classic example of cubic Italianate-style residential architecture. In 1859 William Upton, at age 24, purchased the property on which the Upton house stands. A year later, he married Sarah Jeanette Aldrich, the daughter of Polly and Whipple Aldrich, neighboring farmers. William Upton had this house built in 1866-67. Upton was a successful farmer and also operated a fish business, selling fish he caught in the nearby Clinton River. Upton sold the farm in 1891 to Fred Ahrens and moved to a house on Canal Road in Utica, Michigan to pursue his interests in real estate and business. His real estate holdings eventually included the Upton Block at the corner of Cass and Main (now Milburn Road) in Utica. He also operated a general store in that building in partnership with R. St. John. The Upton Block was destroyed by fire on May 13, 1910. Upton then moved to Rochester, Michigan where he died in 1923 at age 88. The Upton House has been restored on the exterior and now houses city offices.

The Upton House is a two-story, painted-brick, Italianate-style house located at the southwest corner of Lodge Park Road and Utica Road in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Originally a farmhouse on a 136-acre farm, the building is now part of the Sterling Heights civic center, with the city hall, high school, library, police headquarters, senior citizens center, and a city park constructed in the farmland adjacent to the house. The structure now houses the offices of the city's Parks and Recreation Department. The house consists of a two-story, hip-roofed, cubic-formed main section and a one-and-one-half-story gable-roofed wing to the south. The low-pitched, hipped roof on the main section of the house is topped with a tall cupola. The eaves on both sections of the house are visually supported by heavy brackets grouped in pairs. The windows are tall, four-over-four-light, double-hung sash with segmentally arched tops. The windows on the east or front facade of the main section of the house have ornately carved wood window hoods. All other window hoods are brick with carved stone keystones. There is a one-story, flat-roofed, recent addition on the west side of the south wing. The east side of the one-and-one-half-story south wing contains a three-bay porch leading to the main entrance to the house. The porch includes segmentally arched panels at the cornice line between the columns. Decorative brackets above each column visually support the eaves. The flat roof deck of the porch is surrounded by a heavy balustrade of turned balusters with acorn-shaped finials at the corners and on-line above the columns. A less elaborate porch is located on the south side of the south wing which leads to the one-story, flat-roofed addition on the west side of the south wing. The north facade of the two-story main section of the house contains a one-story, three-sided, bay window with engaged rectangular columns at the corners and smaller versions of the cornice brackets visually supporting the eaves. The flat deck roof is surrounded by a balustrade which is a smaller scaled version of the main porch roof-line balustrade. The cupola has similar engaged rectangular columns at each corner along with paired brackets visually supporting the eaves. The roofline of the cupola also has a balustrade matching the main porch roofline balustrade. The tall windows in the cupola have round arched tops and are paired on the north and south sides of the cupola while singular on the east and west sides. The exterior of the house was restored in 1982 based on historic photographs and physical documentation. At that time, the cupola, porches, chimneys, and bay window balustrade were reconstructed. The exterior was repainted and a wood shingle roof was installed to match the original. The interior of the house had been remodeled sometime prior to 1982. The main staircase was reworked and relocated and a fireplace was installed on the east wall of the front room in the main section of the house. In 1982, the interior was rehabilitated for office use. Remaining original features such as window and door trim, baseboard and caved plaster ceilings were maintained as part of this rehabilitation. The main floor contains four large rooms and a bathroom. The upper level contains five small rooms, a bathroom and hallway.