Lost and Found Mansions of Detroit
Detroit is a city that has been through a lot. It has gone from a wealthy industrial city to a city in ruins and then attempting to revive itself. While there has been great preservation efforts many have come too late. Here are some examples of homes specifically located in the Brush Park area.
James Scott Mansion. James Scott was an unpopular playboy, with deep pockets and a love for gambling and booze. He choose to construct a great mansion on the corner of Park and Peterboro St. in Detroit. The home was grand to say the least and had a slight twist during construction. Here is a short paragraph I found :
"When the owner of an adjoining lot refused to sell Scott some land that he wanted to add to his property at Park and Peterboro, Scott spent $20,000 to build a sham house. From the Peterboro side it looked like a mansion, but its elegant facade was attached to a high, windowless wall, whose only purpose was to shut out light from the home of the recalcitrant neighbor."
The home was turned into apartments when Scott died in 1910 and has been vacant since the 1970s. What a great building and hopefully one day someone will restore it before it falls down.
The William Livingstone Home built in 1893 demolished in 2007
Ransom Gillis House built in 1878. Has been vacant since the 1960s. Slight preservation efforts on the exterior have been made in an attempt to attract a buyer but have been unsuccessful. The property is still vacant.
And now RESTORED by the TV host Nicole Curtis. Thank you NICOLE!!
Lucien Moore House: Restored. Too bad they changed the roof line on the tower but still looks amazing!
Hopefully a few more of these can be restored.
If you like what you read and want to contribute please feel free to do so! All donations would be greatly appreciated
James Scott Mansion. James Scott was an unpopular playboy, with deep pockets and a love for gambling and booze. He choose to construct a great mansion on the corner of Park and Peterboro St. in Detroit. The home was grand to say the least and had a slight twist during construction. Here is a short paragraph I found :
"When the owner of an adjoining lot refused to sell Scott some land that he wanted to add to his property at Park and Peterboro, Scott spent $20,000 to build a sham house. From the Peterboro side it looked like a mansion, but its elegant facade was attached to a high, windowless wall, whose only purpose was to shut out light from the home of the recalcitrant neighbor."
The home was turned into apartments when Scott died in 1910 and has been vacant since the 1970s. What a great building and hopefully one day someone will restore it before it falls down.
Here is the Scott Mansion from Jan 29 1911 New York Times
James Scott Mansion is also being restored into several housing units. Looking good isn't it?
The William Livingstone Home built in 1893 demolished in 2007
Ransom Gillis House built in 1878. Has been vacant since the 1960s. Slight preservation efforts on the exterior have been made in an attempt to attract a buyer but have been unsuccessful. The property is still vacant.
And now RESTORED by the TV host Nicole Curtis. Thank you NICOLE!!
Lucien Moore House: Restored. Too bad they changed the roof line on the tower but still looks amazing!
Hopefully a few more of these can be restored.
If you like what you read and want to contribute please feel free to do so! All donations would be greatly appreciated
I don't understand why these homes go to waste. Isn't being green all about recycling? I don't have the money to help these homes, but there are plenty in the music and movie industry that do.
ReplyDeletethe go to waste because they are big,hard to heat need a lot of repairs. The leak and they are damp. But when they get restored they are beautiful. Downtown is hard to live in or at least it was. So now things are getting better
DeleteThink of these multi millionaires who could easily pay for the restoration of one of these homes throughout the usa without batting an eyelash. I agree going green is using what we have. We have perfectly good housing stock that is simply torn down because they think it's cheaper to build new, which it isn't in many cases. This is what I hope this blog can partly be about, fixing what we have and making our history and communities last another 100 years.
ReplyDeleteI work at an archives and was cataloging a postcard from Detroit Publishing Company and came across William Livingstone's home. I needed a little research and came across your blog. Thank you for your post and blog. Totally fascinating!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoy. Wish I could offer up more historical information concerning these homes. If you have more you would like to share, please feel free. Thank you again for reading my blog
Deleteadmittedly the area is still a bit "marginal", and I wouldn't want to arm myself to live there (don't believe in That) but there is no Wayyy Illitch should get away with clear cutting that hood to build a Hockey Arena!!
ReplyDeleteSadly many city officials think that the land empty is worth much more than the history of their forefathers and mothers. Just recently the First Unitarian burned down around suspicious circumstances.
DeleteThought I'd post an update for anyone who may stumble upon this (like I just did). The Ransom Gillis House has also been restored! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki. Thank you for bringing my attention to this! I updated the post and added a couple newer photos.
DeleteA few more houses are being restored this summer! I happened to drive by a few weeks ago! Shame they couldn't have saved more
ReplyDelete