Project: reconnaissance-level survey report and property identification forms (2024–2025)

Client: City of Ypsilanti, Michigan

Vinewood Preservation Planning surveyed the Ypsilanti Historic District, which consists of over one thousand historic resources. Last surveyed in 1983, the district includes 735 properties, one of Michigan’s largest concentrations of well-preserved nineteenth-century residential, commercial, and industrial resources. It also includes contributing post-war Modern architectural resources. Our survey report details the district’s architectural and landscape architecture significance under Criterion C, as well as areas of significance under Criterion A such as Exploration/Settlement and Social History, Post-War Social History, and Government.

Project: intensive-level survey report, property identification forms, and National Register of Historic Places Nomination (2023–2024)

Client: Michigan State Historic Preservation Office

Our firm conducted an intensive-level historic resource survey and National Register of Historic Places documentation for the Ferry Street Historic District in Niles, Michigan. It is significant under Criterion A as the social center of a prosperous African American community established in the late 1840s. Niles had a relatively large African American population among Michigan cities, even before the Great Migration drew large numbers of Black migrants northward, and the district was a nexus even to those not living in the neighborhood. We prepared an extensive Survey Report, and the Ferry Street Historic District is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Project: National Register of Historic Places Nomination (2022–2023)

Client: Michigan State Historic Preservation Office

One of the first Black-owned and Black-interest bookstores in Michigan, eligible under Criteria A and B, Vaughn’s Book Store served as a meeting point for Black nationalist leaders and community activists throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Edward Vaughn, its co-owner, helped organize and sponsor the First and Second Black Arts Conventions, gatherings that brought members of the Black Arts Movement and Black nationalists together. The building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Project: Historic District Study Committee Report (2022)

Client: City of Ann Arbor

Vinewood Preservation Planning authored the Historic District Study Committee Report for the house, significant under Criterion B, of the famed poet and educator Robert Hayden.

Project: National Register of Historic Places Nomination (2021–2022)

Client: Michigan State Historic Preservation Office

Vinewood Preservation Planning completed a National Register nomination for the McGhee House in Detroit, eligible under Criterion A for its role in the 1948 Shelley v. Kraemer US Supreme Court decision striking down racially restrictive covenants nationwide. The house is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

One of our staff published an article about this important Detroit Civil Rights landmark in the Detroit Bar Association's magazine, Detroit Lawyer, pages 12–13.

Project: Consultation on HDC review and environmental compliance (2021–2022)

Client: OHM Advisors

As a subcontractor on a comprehensive redesign project, we identified contributing historic resources and character-defining features to be incorporated into a comprehensive redesign of the 1914 City Beautiful Movement landmark in Detroit. We also advised the client on Historic District Commission review and environmental compliance issues. The park is situated north of the facade of recently-rehabilitated Michigan Central Station in Detroit.

Project: National Register of Historic Places Nomination (2015)

Client: Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (Getegitigaaning Ojibwe Nation) Tribal Historic Preservation Office

This volunteer project listed Rice Bay, a traditional Ojibwe wild rice gathering site, on the National Register as the first Traditional Cultural Place to be so recognized in Michigan. This precedent-setting work is referenced in National Park Service policy documents National Register Bulletin: Identifying, Evaluating, and Documenting Traditional Cultural Places (2025) and Best Practices Review Issue 9: Assessing Integrity, Not Condition (2024). The harvest played an important role in Ojibwe migration and led to the establishment of a permanent settlement at Lac Vieux Desert, also known as Getegitigaaning.

Project: National Register of Historic Places Nomination (2015)

Client: King Solomon Baptist Church

Our staff used primary sources that identified associations and areas of significance that were not documented in secondary sources prior to our research. The two-building resource is significant under Criteria A and B as the location of what is arguably the most significant address of Malcolm X’s career, and under Criterion C as for its unique Tudor Revival and Arts and Crafts church building by J. Will Wilson. The buildings are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our work enabled the client to receive a $500,000 Certified Local Government grant for roof repair to its primary church building.

Project: HABS-format documentation (2013)

Client: Steven C. Flum, Inc.

We provided HABS-format documentation of a two-resource historic district in the City of Highland Park, Michigan, submitted to the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office for recordation and mitigation purposes. We made extensive use of physical evidence to understand the evolution of the buildings and relied on primary sources to document their architectural significance. The resource is significant under criteria A and C.

Project: National Register of Historic Places Nomination (2013)

Client: owner

Our firm produced a successful National Register of Historic Places nomination for a two-building private property in Livingston County, Michigan. The site was significant under Criterion B as the residence, guest house, and showroom of William K. Sexton, a cattle breeder who shaped the development of Livingston County, Michigan.

Project: reconnaissance-level survey report (2012)

Client: Michigan Historic Preservation Network

Our team produced a historic resource survey identifying and documenting five National Register-eligible historic districts and numerous individual resources in Buchanan, Michigan. The survey report also described the history of the community from its founding to the present day, placing the resources in a historic context. The survey adhered to the State Historic Preservation Office’s Manual for Historic and Architectural Surveys in Michigan and will be used by the Michigan Historic Preservation Network as a model for future surveys.