The Henry Cowie House — 692 W Canfield St, Detroit, MI 48201

The Henry Cowie House at 692 W Canfield St, Detroit, MI 48201 is one of Detroit’s earliest living examples of elegant Italianate style architecture.

Constructed within the West Canfield Historic District in 1880 by Dr. Henry Cowie, a prominent late-nineteenth-century Detroit dentist, the home reflects the district’s early development as a prestigious boulevard favored by accomplished professionals. 

Remaining in Dr. Cowie’s hands for several decades, the 692 West Canfield residence served as a long-term anchor in the West Canfield Historic District.

In fact, the Cowie family’s ties to the area went even deeper when Dr. Cowie’s sister, Agnes Cowie, married Dr. Henry A. Cleland, a physician who lived next door at 702 West Canfield. 

This side-by-side residency created a pocket of highly skilled medical professionals whose work connected them to Detroit’s growing professional center, with Dr. Cowie himself running his dentistry practice out of the Detroit Opera House Building before constructing his own office building on Gratiot Avenue in the late 1880s.

As for the 692 West Canfield residence, Dr. Cowie continued to maintain it well into the 1920s, ensuring its stunning Italianate form (tall proportions, bracketed details, and the elegant verticality) remained intact. 

Today, the Henry Cowie House remains a vital piece of West Canfield history: a refined Italianate residence built on one of Detroit’s most distinguished Victorian streets for a top dentist of Detroit’s Golden Age.