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The William B. Conley House residence at 691 W Canfield St, Detroit, MI 48201 carries one of the most artistically rich histories in all of the West Canfield Historic District.
What started out as a small frame house built in 1871 for prominent portrait and landscape artist William B. Conley, who occupied the residence for over two decades, has since become one of the main architectural landmarks anchoring the district to a time when it was just beginning to emerge as a favored enclave for Detroit’s creatives and professionals.
It wasn’t until 1892 that the William B. Conley House was finally sold to attorney John Ward, who lived on site for a brief time prior to relocating to a property next door while the 691 West Canfield residence underwent transformation.
During this time (1894–1895), the Conley House’s original frame dwelling was demolished, and the brick residence you’ll find at 691 West Canfield’s today was constructed in its place – a radical change that mirrored the West Canfield District’s overall evolution from a place defined by wooden cottages to one bolstered by sprawling, high-quality Victorian homes.
From there, the newly constructed brick home was occupied by a wide range of professional-class Detroiters, helping grow West Canfield’s reputation as a quiet, prestigious street tied to the city’s commercial and civic core in the early twentieth century.
As for the architect of the property, unfortunately, no surviving record definitively names them – a reality common in a time when many homes were privately commissioned and not always formally listed in official documents.