National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
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NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: _Grosfield Building_____________________________ Other names/site number: _____________________________________ Name of related multiple property listing: _N/A______________________________________________________ (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: _3365 Michigan Avenue_________________________ City or town: _Detroit_____ State: _Michigan____ County: _Wayne__ Not For Publication: Vicinity: ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide _X_ local Applicable National Register Criteria: _X_A ___B _X_C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Grosfield Building Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State __________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: X Public – Local Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) X District Site Structure Object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing _____1_______ ______0______ buildings Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Grosfield Building Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State _____________ _____________ sites _____________ _____________ structures _____________ _____________ objects _____1_______ ______0_______ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ___0_____ ____________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) COMMERCE/TRADE: professional DOMESTIC: multiple dwelling ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) VACANT ________ WORK IN PROGRESS ___________________ ___________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) LATE VICTORIAN ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: _Brick, Stone_______________________ Section 8 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Grosfield Building Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph The Grosfield Building, located at 3365 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. Situated on the west side of the side of the city, the building is a three-story commercial building designed in the Late Victorian architectural style and constructed of masonry. The building is trapezium-shaped in plan, with its façade angled to meet the angle of Michigan Avenue as it proceeds westward from the center of the city. A rounded corner entry faces the intersection of Michigan and 23rd Street. The first floor is separated into a primary and secondary storefronts divided internally by a brick wall that runs the length of the building. The primary storefront itself is divided into front and back spaces. The second and third floors historically contained space for offices and apartments respectively, but these spaces are no longer clearly defined due to the prior removal of interior walls. The first-floor entries, storefronts, and second- and third- story windows are now covered by plywood. The second- and third-story window openings are framed with stone trim and set below a pressed metal ornamental cornice. A brick parapet surrounds the flat roof on the Michigan Avenue and 23rd Street elevations and is decorated by a recessed square motif. The property is in poor condition due to years of continued vacancy, vandalism, and the impact of water infiltration. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and accessories have been removed or are unusable due to exposure to water, scrapping or age. The rear alley-facing brick elevation has collapsed, as well as the rear portion of the first-floor interior floor and walls. Section 8 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Grosfield Building Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State Narrative Description Fig. 1 Grosfield Block c. 1900. Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection Setting The Grosfield Building is a three-story commercial building located at 3365 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. The building stands on the southeast corner of Michigan Section 8 page 5 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Grosfield Building Wayne County, Michigan Name of Property County and State Avenue and 23rd Street, two miles west from the downtown center. The building footprint sits at the northern lot line, bounded by Michigan Avenue to the north, 23rd Street to the west and a public alley way to the south. The Grosfield Building abuts the Reeber Building at 3363 Michigan Avenue on its eastern elevation. Michigan Avenue is a seven-lane roadway running west from downtown Detroit to Chicago and beyond. It is a spoke of Augustus B. Woodward’s radial plan for the city’s major traffic arteries, inspired by the plan for Washington DC created by Pierre L’Enfant, and implemented in 1806 after a disastrous fire ravaged the downtown a year earlier. Michigan Avenue intersects with 23rd Street which ends one block south of Michigan Avenue at Risdon Street, closed at that point to accommodate both large-scale industrial and commercial operations and the Michigan Central Railroad tracks. South of the rail line 23rd Street reopens to traffic ultimately terminating at Riverside Park along the Detroit River. North of Michigan Avenue 23rd Street ends at McGraw Avenue on the city’s northwest side. Also commonly known as US-12, Michigan Avenue originates at Campus Martius, near the center of downtown Detroit, and stretches west past the city limits to New Buffalo at the southwest corner of the state where it continues beyond Michigan on its east-west trajectory. In 2004, US-12 was formally designated a Historic Heritage Route by the Michigan Legislature, and commemorated the avenue as “among the oldest road corridors east of the Mississippi River” accessing “some of the most extensive and significant historic, cultural, scenic and recreational resources in Michigan.”1 There are few trees or vegetation present along Michigan Avenue, however mature growth trees are still present along the north-south residential streets that intersect