Share Your Thoughts on the Beautiful Historical Homes & Buildings in Detroit (Royal Oak: attorney, houses)

[GLHA-Contractor]

I would love to hear thoughts on the beautiful old historical homes and buildings in Detroit and anywhere else in Michigan for that matter.

Do you live near a beautiful old home, storefront, commercial or multi-story building? Share with everyone about the building. Tell us what you know about the building. Is it occupied, vacant, in wonderful shape, in bad shape, what kind of history the building has had, when was its hay day! Do you have any pictures or can you post and pictures of the building.

The challenge is out! Looking forward to enjoying the posts

[and the]

I was going to buy the firehouse next to Ste. Anne's church by the bridge years ago and move into it when I was single. Then I got married. Not sure who owns it now. I always thought it would be cool to live in an old firehouse if you could afford to heat it.

[GLHA-Contractor]

A firehouse is so cool.

Something else that is really cool about the whole idea is that it is creative as well as adventurous. Taking and creating a dream and then chasing it.

As much as it hurts to say...you made the right choice in making your bride happy! That firehouse might have turned into a doghouse had you made the wrong decision


Had your wife fallen in love with the idea, there would have been quite a few options to make it utility efficient friendly. Retro doors and windows with gas filled glass and radiant heat just scratch the surface.

Can you just imagine your kids coming down the brass fire pole every morning for breakfast before heading out to school? Not to mention the Americana that your firehouse dream would represent to every man or woman who has served as a fire fighter or the person whose life was changed forever by the firefighters who responded to the bell and diverted a tragedy!

Do you have any pictures of the firehouse? It would be really neat to visualize your dream with you.

Does anyone else have any neat historical landmarks you would like to share with everyone? a neighbors home, an old store you visited as a kid, a neighborhood that either still is a great place to live or years ago was a grand place to visit.

I remember going to hockey games as a kid at the Olympia. and driving by the Stroh's Brewery on my way downtown. Maybe you have some memories of riding the train out of one of the several train stations that used to exist in Detroit or anywhere else in Michigan.Share them with everyone.

Again thanks for the firehouse memory!

[ParadiseIsland]

Guardian buuilding, what can I say it's beautiful.

[and the]

I've got some around here somewhere. I'll post them when I get a chance. I think the asbestos abatement alone would have killed my budget, however, it was in an empowerment zone, so there may have been a good deal of federal money available. The church next door is gorgeous. Second oldest Catholic parish in the nation.

The Guardian building is nice too. I think they have some tile patterns in there that include swastikas....only the old timey good-luck type version, although I think they're the same one's those naughty nazi's co-opted.

[Frankawitz]

I have been in construction for 27 years and I have worked on Houses like the Octogon House in Washington Twps at 26 Mile and Van Dyke it was Built in 1857 to 1861 it cost 1 Million dollars to build, All the bricks of the house were made right at the farm, the House sat on 300 acres of land. Louis Andres Built the House in 1939 Paul Weir bought the house and wanted to turn it into a Bed and Breakfast style resturant after building the addition on the rear of the house that had the Kitchen and Servants quarters, the night before the Grand Opening of the Resturant Paul Weir died in the upstairs bedroom, Then in the 1970 Wayne State owned the house and had it set up for students to study on the farm Agirculture into the 1980's then the house fell on hard times intil The Friends of the Octogon House saved it from being torn down, I repaired all the ceilings and walls on the first floor of the house back in 1998. It seems that every person who has owned the house has gone Bankrupted just like Louis Andres did. Some think it was part of the Underground Railroad but it wasn't. Another house that I have worked on was the Fred A. Bakker Home in Huntingwoods built in 1890 the house origanilly set across LaSalle street cause the street was the driveway to the house from Woodward Ave.
This houses owner was a attorney practising in the city of Detroit and Today it is owned by an attorney practising in Detroit. I worked on this house in 1988 I had to plaster the Living room walls and Dinning room walls, I also stripped the paint from the Staircase and restored it, this house has a lot of History it was a Hospital for wayward mothers who were unwed back in the late 1920's and 1930's.
I also did a house in the Boston Edison District that was built in 1904 this house was designed by the late Albert Kahn this house has 104 double hung and stationary windows a lot of them leaded, I had to replace 27' of Plaster Crown moulding in the Living room the house had a lot of water damage. I have also done work in the Starkweather Building in Downtown Romeo that was built in 1864, about half dozen houses in Romeo, also in Franklin Village,
I am working on a house in Grosse Pointe Park built in 1928, I have had to replace Plaster Cornice mouldings in the Dinning room and Living room I have pictures post on my web site at Welcome To My Homepage if you would like to see some of the work I have done. I will be adding more pictures of jobs, I will see if I can't find my pictures of the jobs of the houses I talked about above,
Sorry for taking this tread over didn't mean to be a hog, sorry everyone.

[Cato the Elder]

We live in a 20s colonial in Royal Oak - not famous but cool nonetheless. It was the first of three houses that were built in the early 20s before the developer went belly up. The development was called Woodward Heights, so it's was a planned subdivision, not a random old house on one of the mile roads. The rest of the houses in the neighborhood are postwar. The house sits on a double lot so the seller sold it cheaper to us instead of a builder who would have demo-ed it to build a McMansion. We are the third family to own the house, believe it or not. There are two apple trees in the back yard that were originally a part of the large orchard in the area. As far as we know, it's the only apple trees left. It sat empty for several years so we had to do some serious work - replaster, refinish/patch floors, replace galvanized pipes, redo electrical, drywall, tile, etc. In the process, we found all kinds of interesting things in the walls and floors - military badge, nail file, etc. The air returns (originally gravity heat) were the wooden kind built into the floor and they were replaced with baseboard grilles. We know the exact date b/c they put in newspapers between the replacement oak patches - May 16, 1942. In addition to the original coal gravity heat, it has Pewabic tile in the vestibule and modest, but nice, molding throughout the house, hinting that the original developer was shooting for a Bourgeois market. The seller said we should get a metal detector for the yard b/c they used to find moonshine bottles from prohibition as kids digging around.

[Guardian]

Originally Posted by and the

The Guardian building is nice too. I think they have some tile patterns in there that include swastikas....only the old timey good-luck type version, although I think they're the same one's those naughty nazi's co-opted.

I don't think the Guardian has swastikas, but the Penobscot Building nearby does.

[and the]

That's it, Penobscot, not Guardian...I think there are some churches around with Swastikas too....and not those Christian Identity churches either, but Catholic ones.

Very nice work Frank....No wonder so many people go with drywall....the fancy plaster alone would cost more than most houses these days. And look at those walls....actual masonry, not just veneer and 2X4's. Still......As far as Detroit is concerned, a house is just a house. It ain't a home unless you can sit on your front porch without catching a round between the eyes while you listen to the ballgame....I had some shirt-tail relative who owned a house in Boston/Edison where Eddie Rickenbacker (The car guy and fighter pilot...not the popcorn Rickenbacker) used to live....Nice place....lot of upkeep....

[NobleFisherman]

I just got married and my wife and I are looking at houses. We are entertaining the idea of buying in the Boston Edison district. She is set on a big colonial. I see this as an oportunity to give that to her at an affordable price. I love the area. Detroit doesn't scare me. I spend a lot of time there. I feel like there might be others out there who want to move to Detroit but are convinced to settle in boring suburbia.