Water Hill
A neighborhood named around 2002 for the creeks buried underneath it — Spring, Fountain, Brooks, and the city's water plant on the hill above
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About Water Hill
Water Hill occupies the rise northwest of downtown Ann Arbor, bounded by Miller Avenue, Brooks Street, Sunset Road, and the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks. The housing spans more than a century in a single small area — Victorian-era houses and craftsman bungalows, capes and colonials, mid-century ranches, and a growing number of contemporary infill houses on former gaps — which is why no two blocks here look quite alike.
The name is younger than almost everything it describes. Resident Paul Tinkerhess is credited with coining "Water Hill" around 2002, drawing on two things: the neighborhood's aquatic street names — Spring, Fountain, Brooks, Brookridge, Bath — and its proximity to the city's main water plant, which sits on Sunset at one of the highest points in Ann Arbor. The name has stuck widely but not universally; some longtime residents still call this the West Side, and the debate over what to call it is itself a small piece of local character worth knowing.
- —Street names — Spring, Fountain, Brooks — record creeks now running in buried pipes
- —The city's main water plant sits on Sunset, on some of Ann Arbor's highest ground
- —A neighborhood name only about two decades old, and still not universally used
- —The Bluffs Nature Area dropping toward the Huron River at the northern edge
- —Housing from the 1890s to last year, often on the same block
The water it is named for
The street names are not decorative. Spring, Fountain, Brooks, and Brookridge record a real hydrology: a large number of springs and creeks once ran down this hill, and they were named for exactly what was there. Hydrological engineering eventually confined those streams to underground pipes, and the water disappeared from view — but the streets kept the names, which is why a neighborhood with no visible water carries a set of watery addresses.
The other half of the name sits at the top of the hill. Ann Arbor's main water treatment and pumping plant occupies a site on Sunset Road, on some of the highest ground in the city, and it is the practical reason the neighborhood reads as a hill at all. Between the buried creeks below and the water plant above, the name turns out to be a fairly precise description of the place rather than a marketing invention.
The music fest, and what happened to it
The Water Hill Music Fest is the thing this neighborhood became known for, and what happened to it is worth setting out plainly.
It began on May Day, May 1, 2011, out of an idea from Paul Tinkerhess — the same resident credited with naming the neighborhood, who runs Fourth Avenue Birkenstock with his wife Claire. The concept was simple and unusually good: on the first Sunday in May, from two until six in the afternoon, musicians across the whole neighborhood would play at once, from porches, yards, and driveways, for anyone walking past. No stage, no tickets, no sponsors.
After eight years of organizing it, the founders brought it to an end. Their stated reasons were a mix of personal priorities, concern about public safety as the crowds grew, and the difficulty of keeping an event that size neighbor-to-neighbor and noncommercial — the very qualities that had made it work. The original festival is over.
The tradition did not entirely stop, though. Musicians in the neighborhood organized themselves to keep playing on porches and in yards, and a successor gathering has run under the wry name "The Music Fest Formerly Known as Water Hill." It is a genuinely different thing from the original — smaller, informal, resident-run — and anyone counting on it should confirm the current year's plans locally.
The homes
The architectural range here is unusual for an area this compact. Victorian-era houses and craftsman bungalows from the late 1800s and early 1900s stand alongside solid capes and colonials, mid-century ranches from the 1940s and 50s, and contemporary houses built on infill lots in recent years. Sizes run from compact cottages to substantial houses.
That mix is the neighborhood's defining physical characteristic, and it produces a market that resists averages. A restored 1890s house, a 1952 ranch, and a 2015 architect-designed infill house are three different products on the same street, and comparable sales need to match on era and type rather than on square footage or block alone.
The older stock asks what nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century houses ask: foundation and sill condition, the roof, the sewer lateral, electrical service and any remaining knob-and-tube, the heating system, and the condition of original windows and woodwork. The mid-century houses ask a lighter but real set. And because this neighborhood has seen substantial renovation activity, establishing what was done, when, and whether it was permitted matters as much as the original construction.
Parks and the river
Water Hill is well supplied with open space for a neighborhood this close to downtown. Hunt Park sits inside it, with ball fields and a playground. The Bluffs Nature Area occupies the northern edge, dropping toward the Huron River through woods with long views out over the valley — a genuinely dramatic piece of terrain to have at a neighborhood boundary.
Just beyond, Argo Park and the Argo Cascades put paddling and riverfront trail within a short distance, Bird Hills Nature Area adds Ann Arbor's largest natural area to the west, and West Park lies to the south — 27 acres created in 1908, with a 1927 pergola gateway. That combination means a household here can reach woods, river, and playing fields without crossing much of the city.
Schools
Water Hill is served by Ann Arbor Public Schools, and the elementary assignment splits inside the neighborhood: Bach Elementary serves most blocks, and the northern edge is assigned to a different elementary. Middle school is Forsythe or Slauson and high school is Skyline. Check the specific address in the district's street directory before naming a school; boundaries move.
Getting around
The neighborhood sits immediately northwest of downtown, which puts Main Street, Kerrytown, and the Ann Arbor Farmers Market a short distance away and the University campuses a few minutes out. Miller Avenue carries local traffic east into downtown and west toward the highways; M-14 and US-23 are close for regional trips, putting Detroit Metro Airport around forty minutes out.
Streets here are narrow and lots are modest, which has a practical consequence: parking arrangements vary considerably block to block, and some houses have detached garages, some have driveways only, and some have neither. It is a small thing that becomes a daily thing, and it is worth checking for a specific address rather than assuming.
Buying or selling in Water Hill
The variety that makes this neighborhood interesting also makes it harder to price than a uniform one. Era, house type, lot, level and quality of renovation, and parking all move value independently here, and a comparable sale that matches on size but not on era will produce a misleading number. Working block by block and type by type is the only reliable approach.
For buyers, match the diligence to the house. On the older stock, run the full pre-war review and pay attention to whether renovations were permitted — this neighborhood has seen a lot of work done over the years and the quality varies. On infill and recent construction, the questions shift to workmanship, drainage, and how the house sits on what was often an awkward leftover lot. Across all of them, check the parking situation and walk the block at different times of day.
For sellers, the honest version of this neighborhood's story is stronger than the stale one. The name is recent and specific, coined around 2002 for creeks that were buried and a water plant on the hill. The porch-music tradition is real and still happening in a smaller, resident-run form, even though the original festival ended. The Bluffs drop to the river at the northern edge, and downtown is minutes away. Describing what is actually true here — rather than advertising a festival that stopped running — reaches a buyer who will not feel misled at the first conversation with a neighbor.
Not to be confused with
Community details reflect public records and local knowledge and can change — always verify what matters to your purchase. Explore more of Ann Arbor's neighborhoods, or browse active listings.