Built in 1869, the Horace S. Tarbell House is possibly the oldest surviving home in Brush Park. The Italianate-style residence was constructed after Horace S. Tarbell purchased the land from Edmund Brush. Tarbell was a prominent Detroit educator and reformer, serving as principal and supervising principal of city schools between 1866 and 1871. In 1869, Tarbell organized an evening school at the Detroit House of Correction, one of the earliest successful prison education programs in the United States. By 1871, nearly two-thirds of inmates were enrolled, earning national recognition from the National Prison Reform Congress. Tarbell later served as Superintendent of Public Schools in East Saginaw and was also active in Detroit real estate development.

The house was sold in 1872 to Detroit attorney Alfred F. Wilcox and later owned by several notable figures, including Luther S. Trowbridge Jr., son of Civil War General Luther S. Trowbridge. Like many Brush Park mansions, it was eventually converted into a rooming house and remained occupied into the mid-1970s.

By 1978, the house was abandoned. A mid-1980s attempt to convert it into a restaurant was left unfinished, leaving the rear of the structure exposed. Decades of vacancy and deterioration followed, and although the house is still standing and has undergone some renovation as of early 2026, its condition has placed it at serious risk.