There are four distinct shopping districts outside of the central downtown shopping district. These are located in the Oldtown area of north Lansing (East Grand River Ave. from N. Washington Ave. to Larch Street), the South Washington area from I-496 to Mt. Hope Blvd., the east side shopping district on East Michigan Ave. between Clemens and Foster Streets, and the west side shopping district along Saginaw St. from Pine Street to Martin Luther King. All of these districts contain older commercial buildings dating from the late 19th century to the 1930s. Only the Oldtown area of North Lansing has attempted any concerted effort at restoration and renewal. The eastside shopping district has remained thriving since it's inception. Of the four the westside and the South Washington areas are the least active.
The neighborhoods of Lansing present the broad spectrum of architectural styles and building types. The oldest structures in Lansing date from the 1840s and 1850s, but these survivors are few and far between. The predominant house type in Lansing is the gable-front farmhouse, followed closely by the upright-and-wing (sometimes called the gable-front-and-wing). Houses built of this type date from the 1860s to the present, with the largest number dating from between 1870 and the early 1900s. This style was popular in many urban areas of the Midwest during this period, probably because it recalled the rural farm backgrounds of most of the city dwellers of the time.
The gable-front house type is spread across the city, with major concentrations in the downtown and northside areas. It is probably least represented in those parts of the southside which were last to be incorporated into the city.
The next most prevalent house type in the city is the four-square, which was built beginning in the 1880s and continued into the 1940s. Four-square type houses are spread across the city, with most concentrated in the downtown area, the westside to Verlinden Street, and the southside to Holmes Road. Most of the four-squares built after 1910 were purchased in kit form from Aladdin Homes of Bay City, or from Sears and Roebuck of Chicago.
The third most prevalent house type in Lansing is the colonial styles, including the Dutch colonial, Cape Cod, Tudor, Federal and Williamsburg types. These were built from the 1920s to the present and range from fairly modest to the very ostentatious and are spread across the city in all areas.
The areas of the southside and the westside that are outside of the original city platt are the areas where most post-war home types can be found. These include the ranch style, the split-level, minimal traditional and all the various builder's styles. These houses form the transition in Lansing between the city and suburbs, as they do in many other urban areas. There are examples of virtually every type of architectural style in Lansing, but the above listed are those that are most numerous and so effect the environment most significantly.