The Brewster Project and Frederick Douglass Apartments were built between 1935 and 1955, and were designed by Harley, Ellington & Day of Detroit. The Brewster Project began construction in 1935, when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt broke ground for the 701-unit development; the first phase, consisting of low-rise apartment blocks, was completed in 1938.

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In 1991, the low-rise apartment blocks of the original Brewster Project were demolished and by 1994 were replaced with 250 townhomes dubbed the "New Brewster Homes".[3] Two towers (Towers 303 and 304) of the adjacent Frederick Douglass Apartments were demolished in 2003. As of 2007, the Detroit Housing Commission's long-term plan is for the demolition of the existing towers and low-rise housing of the Frederick Douglass Apartments and to redevelop the site as a mixed-income neighborhood.[4]