Curbed Detroit’s top homes of 2017

The real estate landscape in Detroit continued to change in 2017, as we saw multiple homes in Boston-Edison snag $1 million+ at sale, and listing prices rise in neighborhoods across the city. Which houses were the most beautiful? The most memorable? We’ve gathered 13 that received quite a bit of attention throughout the year. Some we featured due to their recent renovation (the J.D. Baer house), while some were shared widely due to their character (y’all love a stone house). Did we miss your favorite of 2017? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo by Michelle & Chris Gerard

The J.D. Baer House

We’ll start with a home that wasn’t up for sale. Instead, it had finished renovations after sitting vacant for 50 years. The J.D. Baer House sits on a prominent Trumbull location in Woodbridge and was renovated by local developer Alex Pereira. When he bought it, the house was basically crumbling. Now, it’s home to multiple apartments and a giant, welcoming porch. Check out the history, plus before and after photos here.

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Photo by Planomatic

West Canfield Victorian

This gorgeous 1874 home on historic West Canfield in Midtown sold the day it hit the market. The house is rich in history, and was home to Beulah Croxford, who led preservation efforts in Detroit in the 1960s and 70s. It also signaled the rising prices and rarity of single-family homes in the neighborhood—it sold for $755,000.

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Photo by James Tumey

Islandview shell

While not notable for its current aesthetics, this Islandview shell of a house signaled a big change in the neighborhood. It sold for $1,000 in 2011 and it looked like some work —but not much—had been started and stopped. It needed everything, and listed for $60,000. The area just west of West Village and adjacent to Belle Isle saw many homes list after that, and we heard more news of developments on the way. The house sold for $70,000.

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Stone houses galore

We saw four incredible stone houses on Curbed Detroit this year, including the historic Briggs Mansion in Boston-Edison, a time capsule-like Southfield stone house, a home in Indian Village that had been moved in 1920, and a prime property in Midtown. The Briggs Mansion sold for $1,035,000.

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Photo by Craig Gorkiewicz of Craig Films

Navin home in Boston-Edison

We love a house with history, and although this Boston-Edison house needed some work, we spent some time imagining what it was like 100 years ago. It was home to Tigers owner Frank Navin, and included a room-sized vault in the basement.

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Photo courtesy of Al Block, RE/MAX First

La Salle Gardens mansion

Detroit commemorated the 50th anniversary of the ‘67 riot this year, and this La Salle Gardens home still has the bullet homes from a raid during the uprising. The photos of the home show what was the grandeur, but a lot of time and money needed to go into it. More on the house and its history can be found here.

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Photo by Jason Grube

Prairie-style home in Boston-Edison

We saw extraordinary listings in Boston-Edison this year, including this rare Prairie-style home right by Voigt Park. It was in beautiful condition, and was only complemented by its landscaping. Perfect. Lovely. We’ll take it.

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Photo by the Loft Warehouse

Pallister Street home

We hardly ever see houses go up for sale on the pedestrian-only Pallister Street, so we loved seeing this restored home. It’s located just a couple blocks away from the Fisher Building on the most beautiful street in Detroit. We’re interested to see what happens to prices in New Center in the coming years.

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Photo by Michelle & Chris Gerard

John Roxborough house

This spring we visited the John Roxborough house in the North End. The house was in pre-renovation mode, but we could see a lot of the history left inside. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished product.

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Photo via Estately

Boston-Edison beauty

We’re a little heavy on the houses in this historic neighborhood this year, but this fall listing was a knockout. Big rooms, lovely woodwork, built-ins, fairly priced...this was a winner.