Peter Miller
Spectacular Historic Renovations in Detroit
I returned to my Michigan roots recently by visiting my childhood friend Mike Shields in Kalamazoo and touring our old haunts in the historic district neighborhood near K College.
In the early ’60s when everyone was moving to the outer suburbs, my parents bought a fixer-upper in town, on South Prospect Street. The Henderson Park neighborhood was developed in the early 1900s with classical revival architecture including Tudor, Arts and Crafts bungalows and our Colonial, which my mother, an interior designer, claimed was designed by Stanford White. She managed our whole house restoration /renovation, which was respectful of original character but got a few upgrades—a new turquoise midcentury modern kitchen/family room and an orange sofa.
Riding around with my friend Mike was a lesson in the history of Western Michigan’s development and its diversified economy. He made contrasts between this diverse development and Detroit’s automotive economic history—a city that has been making its comeback, an urban renaissance, after a long decline.
You may recall, Detroit’s demise culminated in a bankruptcy filing in July 2013. Since then, thanks in large part to Dan Gilbert of Bedrock Development Company and other visionaries, much of Detroit’s proud architectural legacy has been restored. My craftsman friend Mike Sheilds of Blackberry Systems has been part of this architectural resurrection; his company restores and replicates historic windows—most notably for Detroit’s Book Tower where Blackberry Systems restored and replicated over 2,400 windows.
Mike sent me a You Tube video which identifies the “Top Ten Most Spectacular Detroit Renovation Projects” and proves the point about a robust revitalization of historic buildings in and around downtown, including the Brush Park and Capital Park neighborhoods. Looking at the before and after video shots of these ten buildings shows just how far things have come back, and how once proud traditional buildings fell into disrepair, some vacant for over 40 years, then restored by brave developers, knowledgeable architects and skilled craftspeople.
The diversity of Victorian-era architectural styles in Detroit is impressive with Queen Anne, Italianate, Venetian Gothic and Second Empire buildings. Most of the renovations featured in the “Top Ten” video used historic tax credits, preserving or replicating original material. In addition to Book Tower, there are two other buildings of note.
Capitol Park’s Farwell Building, designed by Rogers & Bonnah opened as an office building in 1915. It featured elaborate ironwork by Russel Wheel and the Foundry of Detroit. The interior design was done by Louis Comfort Tiffany, which included a vaulted dome in the lobby with thousands of inlaid Tiffany glass pieces. To anchor the revitalization of the historic neighborhood, Michigan’s Landbank bought this dilapidated property for $3.3 million in 2009. By then the building had sat empty for 30 years, vandalized and forlorn.
But by 2019 the Farwell Building reopened after undergoing a $40.5 million restoration and renovation, led by developers Richard Karp, Kevin Hosey and Kevin Prater with historic consulting provided by architect and interior designers, the Kraemer Group. The building now has a mix of 82 luxury apartments, office space, a restaurant and a roof-top deck.
Another handsome project in the “Top Ten Most Spectacular” video is the Detroit Foundation Hotel, a five-story steel-frame, brick and terra cotta Neoclassical building designed by Hans Gehrke and opened in 1929. This was a firehouse from the 1840s, adapted from a horse and wagon operation to fire trucks, then vacated by the Detroit Fire Department in 2013.
The adaptive use, restoration and renovation of this old fire house boasts, “a destination where history and progress collide. Where craftsmanship, integrity and bold experiences define every corner.” I think they mean architecture. Intricate cornices and ornamental stone carvings adorn the façade which has dramatic arched windows. Inside, there is a hip restaurant called the Apparatus Room which has the old brass fire poles, for decoration not dancing.
It's not in the video but Mike told me about the Henry and Clara Ford mansion in Dearborn Michigan, which, like its downtown historic building brethren, has, and will continue its restoration. We’re going to check this traditional building out as a possible venue for a future Traditional Building Conference venue in Michigan.
Peter H. Miller, Hon. AIA, is the publisher and President of TRADITIONAL BUILDING, PERIOD HOMES and the Traditional Building Conference Series, and podcast host for Building Tradition, Active Interest Media's business to business media platform. AIM also publishes OLD HOUSE JOURNAL; NEW OLD HOUSE; FINE HOMEBUILDING; ARTS and CRAFTS HOMES; TIMBER HOME LIVING; ARTISAN HOMES; FINE GARDENING and HORTICULTURE. The Home Group integrated media portfolio serves over 50 million architects, builders, craftspeople, interior designers, building owners, homeowners and home buyers.
Pete lives in a classic Sears house, a Craftsman-style Four Square built in 1924, which he has lovingly restored over a period of 30 years. Resting on a bluff near the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., just four miles from the White House, Pete’s home is part of the Palisades neighborhood, which used to be a summer retreat for the District’s over-heated denizens.
Before joining Active Interest Media (AIM), Pete co-founded Restore Media in 2000 which was sold to AIM in 2012. Before this, Pete spent 17 years at trade publishing giant Hanley Wood, where he helped launch the Remodeling Show, the first trade conference and exhibition aimed at the business needs and interests of professional remodeling contractors. He was also publisher of Hanley Wood’s Remodeling, Custom Home, and Kitchen and Bath Showroom magazines and was the creator of Remodeling’s Big 50 Conference (now called the Leadership Conference).
Pete participates actively with the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Resources Committee and also serves as President of the Washington Mid Atlantic Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. He is a long-time member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and an enthusiastic advocate for urbanism, the revitalization of historic neighborhoods and the benefits of sustainability, including the adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
