Beaubien House History
The home of the American Institute of Architects Michigan, AIA Detroit and the Michigan Architectural Foundation is one of the oldest remaining houses in Detroit. It gives us an idea of middle-class life in the midst of the nineteenth century. The land on which it sits is truly historic. It is a piece of one of the original “strip farms’ that ran back from the river in the days before the English replaced the French settlers. The site is that of Antoine Beaubien’s farm. It had a quarter of a mile frontage on the river, but ran back from the water nearly three miles. It was almost 337 acres in size. Beaubien was a Colonel in the Detroit Militia. He received the patent certificate for his land in 1810.