Consisting of over forty homes, the Highland Park Historic District includes a distinctive and dense collection of residential architecture popular between the 1920s and the 1970s, with a particularly notable collection of 1950s-era examples. The district is named after the subdivision in which the majority of the houses are located. Platted in 1925, Highland Park was the second of just two subdivisions in the city to be designed entirely with boulevarded streets. Initial construction in the tree-lined, planned landscape was slow and was, perhaps, due to its extremely hilly terrain. Indeed, only six homes were built prior to the advent of the Great Depression. Construction began again in 1936, only to be stopped again by World War II and the moratorium on domestic housing construction. Post-war construction continued steadily until 1961, with a total of eighteen homes built in the 1950s alone. Final buildout occurred in the 1970s. Exterior alterations to the homes are generally limited to window replacement, with only a small number experiencing siding replacement.

Architectural styles exhibited in the district include Shingle Style, Prairie School, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Spanish Eclectic, French Eclectic, and Monterey, as well as the more “modern” International Style, 1950s and 1960s Contemporary (including split levels), and Wrightian (including Usonian) homes. The district also includes a good number of 1950s-1970s-era Ranch (and raised Ranch) homes, many of which were architect designed. Indeed, some of the most noted local and state architects were responsible for the district’s home designs, including George Foster (and Foster & Yasko), Oppenhamer & Obel, Eschweiler & Eschweiler, Armin C. Frank, and even Frank Lloyd Wright.

The homes in the district are privately owned; please respect their privacy.