Woodbridge Neighborhood Historic District Boundary Increase Two

The former Saint Dominic's Church complex was built during the district's expanded period of significance and through its architecture contributes to the district's visual and historic character. The first section of the former church complex was built in 1893 by the Brewster Congregational Church, which by 1897 had 230 members. In 1906 the congregation hired Almon C. Varney to design a large addition that, constructed to the west of the original building, became the main part of the church. Varney (1849-1930) was a prominent Detroit architect and a member of the First Congregational Church in Detroit. Most noted for financing, designing, and supervising the construction of the first apartment building in Detroit, Varney designed numerous residences and other buildings including the Oriental Hotel and four factories for the Boydell Brothers. A number of residences designed by Varney are located in the South Cass Corridor area of Detroit, located about a quarter mile to the east of Woodbridge, including in the West Canfield Historic District (NR Listed). In 1926 the Brewster Congregational Church merged with the Pilgrim Congregational Church to become the Brewster Pilgrim Congregational Church, and relocated to Linwood Avenue about four miles to the northwest of Woodbridge. The Brewster church was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Detroit. The church was renamed St. Dominic's Catholic Church. Responding to the rapidly increasing Catholic population in the formerly largely Protestant section of Detroit, the new parish was created from three surrounding parishes, the Cathedral, St. Leo's, and the Most Holy Rosary. Saint Dominic's opened officially on December 8, 1926, and at that time Bishop Gallagher stated, 'Holy Rosary parish was overcrowded, and so were St. Leo's and the Cathedral parishes. That meant that masses had to be read every hour to accommodate the crowds.' St. Dominic's Church was staffed by the Dominicans, the Order of Preachers. It was the first and only church in the Diocese of Detroit of that order. The diocese had been attempting to create a Dominican parish for five years prior to 1926, probably because at that time the diocese was under the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Cardinal was a Dominican.

The proposed boundary increase to the Woodbridge Neighborhood Historic District will add the former St. Dominic's Church complex and is approximately one-half block in size. The area to be added is located on the east side of Trumbull Avenue just south of West Warren. The area east of Trumbull, which here forms the existing district's east edge, is bounded by Wayne State athletic fields on the north, a 1980s public housing apartment complex to the east, and a 1990s public housing apartment complex to the south. The former church complex's buildings date from the period of the Woodbridge Neighborhood district's development. When standing within the existing Woodbridge Neighborhood Historic District and looking towards the former church complex from both directions on Trumbull and from the west on Warren, it is clear that the buildings fit the character of the neighborhood in scale and materials. The former church complex faces two and a half story residences and larger apartment buildings nearby across Trumbull. When viewed together these form a dense urban neighborhood that, containing a variety of building types, functioned as a cohesive unit. The former Saint Dominic's Church complex contains four buildings standing at the southeast corner of Trumbull and Warren Avenues. The site is flat with little landscaping. The former church and rectory face Trumbull, the former school faces Warren, and the former convent faces a vacated Lincoln Avenue, parallel with Trumbull.