Wardwell House

William Buck, an English immigrant farmer, built the main part of this house around 1849. It has fourteen-inch thick walls and is the oldest brick house in Grosse Pointe. The rear clapboard addition, built elsewhere, dates from the 1880s. Henry Russel, an attorney and businessman, bought the house in 1901. In 1912 it became the home of his daughter, Helen Wardwell, and her husband, Harold. She lived here for sixty-five years. In 1977 the property was acquired by the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church as a bequest of Helen Wardwell.