The Parsons House is an excellent example of the upright-and-wing style of Vernacular Folk house that was popular in the Midwest following the Civil War. The wooden house retains vestiges of the Greek Revival style in its six-over-six windows and window pediments, but the steeply pitched roofs speak more to the Gothic Revival style. There are large overhanging eaves with no decoration to speak of.

Nehemiah Parsons was an early pioneer of Washtenaw County, buying land in Pittsfield Township in 1825 and serving as the first postmaster of Mallet’s Creek in 1834. During the 1860s, Parsons was in the wool business with his nephew Addison P. Mills (see #46) under the name of A.P. Mills and Co. He was also chief engineer of the Ann Arbor Fire Department. He built the house in either 1867 or 1868, possibly as a speculative venture. He sold the house in 1869 to Henry and Anna Neeb and moved west to Missouri where he died in 1882. The Gregory and Phelps family owned the house from 1872 to 1912. From 1912 to 1963, the house was owned by the family of George and Grace Efner, who was a painter. It has been owned since 1994 by Mike Gerdenich and Ina Hanel, who are in the process of restoring it as we write.

Return to Miller Road/Water Hill/Sunset neighborhood from Historic Ann Arbor: An Architectural Guide