Vine's Apartments

Housing a Growing City

Scattered throughout the Vine Neighborhood, apartment complexes receive far less attention and devotion from historians and preservationists than residential homes. Often designed in the service of pragmatic and utilitarian needs, Kalamazoo’s apartment buildings often don’t possess the kinds of striking or conspicuous architectural details that draw in the observant eye. They lack the eye-catching, aesthetic features of 19th century Italianate or Queen Anne homes, but their intermittent presence, often situated between houses, provides the curious historian with a starting point in mapping the neighborhood’s 20th century evolution from sparsely occupied hinterland to residential suburb.

The emergence of the apartment also coincides with social and economic changes of the early 20th century, notably the need to house unmarried students, many of whom were young women attending a trade school or teaching college. The opening of Western State Normal School atop Prospect Hill in 1903 corresponds with a building boom for apartment complexes. Here are several apartment buildings located in ‘The Vine’ which have survived time’s wrecking ball.

Walnut Flats, 447-449 W. Walnut

Built Date: 1905

The home and headquarters of businessman Arthur J. Patterson, promoter and manufacturer of the early 20th century card game Flinch, Patterson built the elegant brick building on the southeast corner of W. Walnut Street and S. Westnedge Avenue. Bay windows along the facade and arched stonework around the entryway adds subtle panache.

131 W. Cedar

Built Date: c. 1906

Situated on the southeast corner of S. Rose and W. Cedar Street, this handsome red brick apartment complex houses office space today, but when first built, Jacob B. Lehman, Ellsworth E. Clark, Jacob C. Ball, and Millie G. Rose called it home.

The Ryder, 303 W. Dutton Street

Built Date: c.1914-1915

Situated in the Vine Neighborhood this relatively austere, brick complex was built by longtime resident of Kalamazoo, J.W. Ryder, who immediately began advertising in the newspaper for new tenants in January of 1915. Ryder was an attorney, realtor, chamber of commerce member, onetime president of the Kalamazoo Baseball Association, and involved in the coal industry.

409 W. Dutton Street

Built Date: 1903

This brick terrace duplex, with its curvy facade and cornice, arose along W. Dutton Street in the early 20th century, an outlier among the 19th century built houses that surrounded it. If you wanted to live here in 1903, you would have needed to call H. Barendreght at the Star Bargain House.

529-531 W. Vine Street

Built Date: c. 1905-1906

This stylish building is outfitted in sandy-colored brick. It has a arched roofline above the entryway that functions to draw attention to the building’s symmetry. The third floor dormer window allows a view of the old Kalamazoo Central High School building to the north.

Baumann Terrace, 210-216 W. Vine

Built Date: c. 1889-1890

An austere row of townhouses along W. Vine Street, just west of Rose Street, are now individually owned condominiums. In 1893, successful brewer and builder Nicholas Baumann bought the property from E.H. Gault. Two years later, Baumann died, and left the property to his housekeeper Susanna Feldbausch. One of the early tenants was Emma Travis, a young student attending the Parsons Business College, where she served as secretary of the Commercial Society, a literary organization. Emma’s sister Dora also lived here. Several years later, in 1915, the newspaper reported that Dora had purchased a brand new seven passenger Cadillac.

The Parkmont, 817 S. Park Street

Built Date: 1932

Built much later than most of the Vine Neighborhood’s homes and apartments, this Colonial Revival-style apartment complex lies just north of where famed novelist Edna Ferber was born.

519-521 Wheaton Avenue

Built Date: c.1899, 1930

This eight room building rose along Wheaton Street sometime in the late 1800s as a residence, but it may have only taken on its current appearance around 1930, when the wood framed home was wrapped in brick, a process called veneering. An advertisement in the Kalamazoo Gazette in 1913 states that three of the rooms were for rent. In 1915, rent was originally set at either $8.00 or $9.00 depending on the room. A newspaper advertisement also mentioned that there was “plenty of room for garden.” The current building possesses a few details of note, including its light-colored brick, a pediment and decorative reliefs, likely added during its modern makeover in 1930, when Art Deco reliefs and friezes were popular.

1004 Davis Street

Built Date: 1942

One of the youngest buildings in the neighborhood, situated among older Victorian and revival residences. The building would have been very convenient for students attending the nearby Western Michigan College of Education.

William L. Welsh Terrace, 101-105 W. Dutton Street

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Article written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, April 2025. Last updated 28 April 2026.