Frank B. Lay was a successful business leader when he built this English Tudor home in 1909. Lay had established the Michigan Buggy Company with his father and brother-in-law Moses Lane. By 1912 he was president of the company. After an unsuccessful attempt at manufacturing an automoble known as 'The Michigan', the Company closed in 1914.

After Lay's death in 1933 the home stood vacant. It eventually became the West South Apartments in 1942.