The Palmer Park Apartment Building Historic District is a historic district located in Detroit, Michigan. It is roughly bounded by Pontchartrain Boulevard on the west, McNichols Road on the south, and Covington Drive on the northeast. A boundary increase pushed the eastern boundary to Woodward Avenue. The district showcases some of the most ornate and most varied examples of apartment building design in Michigan, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 (with a boundary increase in 2005).HistoryThe land that this historic district sits on, like the adjacent Palmer Park and nearby Palmer Woods Historic District, was once the estate of Thomas W. Palmer, a wealthy Detroiter and one-time US Senator. Palmer had intended to develop this area into a subdivision, but died in 1913 before bringing the idea to fruition. After Palmer's death, this portion of the estate was purchased by Walter Briggs. In 1925, Briggs hired Albert Kahn to design an apartment building in the area (this building, at 1001 Covington, was converted to contos in 2005). Forty buildings total were constructed in the district by multiple architects, including Weidmaier and Gay, Robert West, and William Kapp. Most of the buildings were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s, but development continued until 1965.
