The Mansions of Grosse Pointe

~""__ "'''' __ ''_-iiiJi'''W'' -- 'i If ,I :''j '1 I I , BY HAWKINS FERRY A SU.hurh In Good Taste By Hawkins Ferry Reprinted by Economee Service, In,c. from March, 1956 Issue, Michigan Society of Architects CENTRA~ GR'OSS,EPOINTE PUBLIC UBRAR1 IJDIJRD IN ~;:OOD Tt\STt; BY HAWKINS FERRY THE npllnmg Yllarn of the eighteenth of It:. "elf]! th", ilhores of Lake St Cbir n~JClr ArntJ:,,'::i'Jn t0n~1'1 allraclt'd settlers in the Gl'Om8~' Gretu !i{; r;t \~fid areCI Eorly French farmers bmlt hap~ It III d'!f,~ihngs rtertr the lake both for acces:1 flvt:J11Vfj h~tlSO;g pr(IVtHl to 1:F'~ by cano,) cmd for a convenient water O;H;j "hn[lfll:'lg ;,\lpply TillS resulted in tho hou8e~ boing '.:md l"Jwns th~y together The land of eelen farm sIOnt Cl of l:vlr:q !bf1t j >d'l)' 'ixwnd!!1d from the lake far into the interior enlld by prohlbi!lYC' and m(ll1ilf}IlCll:,;/"' 111 n'lm1W strips, thus having originated C'o~tJ All thli1 er(l tl1'.1t prociuC'<)'d th~, tNm 'ribbon farm." hom,,!s Ul Y'Jl1l,,!llllq rmcl many thif,"'rJl ~'Te It an ()pprr.)p£:-:~t{) h thl' latter part of the nineteenth century mOln'3nt to rellvl11w,1tAthem ',:1$ mmthetl\; th'l mcreational value of the waterfront phenomena. Tf)cognized, and summer cottages took place of farmhouses; but Grosse On@ of the hut lluba\c:mlial ma:nslon~ in P)mte'f!) role as em isolated summer colony Grosse POlllte was thf>' Joseph H. Berry lrtllted only until the beginning of the house (l.) of 1882 on Lake Sh0l'f1 Rood by tW<i9ntirithcentury, when the growth of !)e- Mason and Rie'll (demolished) The hrst lroll and the arrival of the automobile of a long series of "Engli!!h manor houslill1" w!lJre to convert the community into a to adorn Gronse Pomte, ,t is rek~ted to thiil pf;rmanent residential suburb. Tudor hOll13!1lSbuilt by Norman Shaw m England m the JieVI'mtiell and to thllir Although year-round masonry dwellings Am'ilrican cOllnt@rp.':lrt13Very ltkely !~ason were 10 supplant flimsy wooden villas, the was insplreiJ by the W...tlts Sherman hou",," hentage of the past persisted in the line bUIlt by H H Richardson in 1874,11376 in old trees and the long narrow shape of Newport. HowIilvlIlr,the Berry hou$e lack!! lh!IJestates that had developed from the the disclplme in design of the Rkh:.rrdson onginal French farms extending back from or Shaw prototypes and ill more related the lake. to the earlier American Victorian house The growth of suburban Grosse Pointe took with its ubiquitous verandas, fussy dll- place during an interesting period in the tails, and general complexity. development of American architecture. The With no formal arcrhltectural educatiO!n, VICtorian architects both in England and George D. Mallon had begun hlil! canter Ameriatt had adapted the country dwelling III Dl?trolt in 1873 in the offlce of H~mry T. the 'l'Elquirements of modern living; and Brullh. In 1£179he ioll1!1'dZachariah Ric!iiin academicians of the turn of the cen- partnofship. It wall a period in whil;1h had offered as their contribution Ct archltectil!, giving full reign to romcrnllc vocabulary chastened by a more whimsicality, were concocting all mf.fnner lonl\al professional education and a great- of architectural potpo\lrris. ii\lr photographic documentation of anti- <:Iuatian sources. There could have been no more propituoua momlitnt for the return to the Simplicity S,l;torching for formulas that would suit the crud Illild discipline of the Coloni,d p<Jl)riod. l'l'llW rural mode of living facilitated by fn the East McKim, M<ltad, and White had the automobile, architects of the eastern rediscovered the long. neglactlild nalive a e a boa r d inevitably rediscovered the tradition, and their H. A. C. Taylor houille chorm of the English manor house. the of laSe in Newport was the flrst example Italian villa. and the French chateau. of the Colonial Revival. The architects to the west, more isolated On Lake Shore Road in 1"ointe the and introspective in their outlook, reacted William C. McMillan House (2.) O!f IBB6 differently to the new invasion of the by Mason and RlCe followed cloaely the countryside. To identify architecture more Newport precedent especially in the mol- closely with nature, they threw aside his- ter of academic detail, but there was a toric styles to embrace a new organic con- gregter freedom in the placing 01 wmdows cept of building. Louis Sullivon and and the treatment of verandas and porte- Frank Floyd Wright and others of the cochere. Chicago School pointed in a new direction both structurally and aesthetically, The McMillan house was one of several whIte clapboard Colonial Revn,ra! houses It was a complex period of architecture that were built in Grosse Pomte at the and one which offered a wide range of turn of the century. The free planning and choice. Standing in the midst of these generous use of bay windows character- ideologies, Grosse Pointe remained essen- IStiC of the Victorian Period were re- tially conServative. Lacking an appro- tained wlth an overlay of Coloma! detmls pnate local tradition or an incentive to invent one. architects did not hesitate to borrow from the' world's storehouse of 1. JOSEPH H. BERRY HOUSE styles. In a community in which social Mason & Rice. Architects prestige was a primary consideration, the hIstorical styles were valued for their 2. WILLIAM C. McMILLAN HOUSE aristocratic implications. Fortunately some Mason & Rice. Architects of the architects were able to rise above 3. DAVID C. WHITNEY HOUSE the necessary requirements into the realm Walter McFarlane. Architect of consummate artistry. 4. FRANK C. BALDWIN HOUSE Therefore the eel e c tic architecture of Strait on & Baldwin. Architects Grosse Pointe is interesting not because S. FREDERICK M. ALGER HOUSE of its vitality or its inventiveness but be- Straiton & Baldwin. Architects iJ,clllgCm Society of Architects popular was thJi1JtW(H1!OrJt,d th!!lOld South. Oll~ of most formal and mtylllltiC(lllypme of t\"H;,,;f hOU!leB was the David C. Whitney tll<D hOU$!!l (3,) 01 1902 by Walter McFarlane (1 who!t.:)' (d~'moHshed). Here the inspmltion Wel" ,'n1':ltl1n~ H!1'::J(ltn.:m unrrustakably the eXflcutive mamlion in GOmlldt,retblynh,~(ld \'hxllhington. However without sacrificing !unCIWrHIlwIn 11 ul! Jml.J':! formal emphasis, genleel relaxation :lahty and th.rl has dunng the summer months wan aSlilure:1 b,),m oqu2Iled in lb0 nrmn18 by the two levels of veranda in thl') (;!!In. Pmnla an::lut0cluf,J tra! portico and sunp.orchcs at each end Anothor ardlltecl WQdUfiS1 lImrHlwhat of the house. he lmHlP Straltcm 1n !lUll Oneill again the English manor houst} WetE! Trowbrid,]e. a ntlhve served as inspiration in tha Frank C. Bald. of DlltrOlt Af!er graduatIOn trcm Corm.lJ win house (4.) 01 1908 on Tellersen Avenue. III 1890, hel studH~d at th0 'Ecole dell EleC:Hlll: 'fhe architects were the owner and William Arts ill Paris For a brief ptmod he work. B Strat!on, the firm 01 Stratton and Bald- ed III the ollic," of D. MaE!on and win being the lirst in Michigan to be lalf"r Wets a p.?rtner Albert Kahn in made up 01 men trained in American archi- Detroit From 1906 to 1921 he wall llomor tectural schools. Baldwin had attended partner in the architecturaJ liml 01 Trow- 1l000tonTech and had subsequently worked brIdge and Ackl!Jrmo:nin New York. in the ollice 01 John Scott and Company In 1909 he built a house (6.) in Groll$'!l in Detroit while Stratton had graduated Pointe lor his brother, Luther S. Trowbridge Irom Cornell University. on jelferllon Avenulll on one 01 those typical A long way had been traveled Irom the long narrow lots 01 Fnmch origin extend- Berry house to the Baldwin house. The ing toward the lake. Since the flat terrain architects showed a much greater under- rooe only two or three feet above the lake. iIltanding 01 the principles that motivated it was necessary to build the basement the reoent Domestic Revival in England. above the ground lnel to keep it above The external design, responding to the Iree- the water table. ThE! consequent raising dnm of the internal plan, has acquired a of the main floor and jarrace has providllld 7 new absrract quality in the grouping of a better view across the lawn toward the masses and roqf forms, the concentration lake, a lactor whier. il3 W!!llJ provid$d lor 01 window areas, and the use 01 broad with ample fenestration. wall surfaces to create varying textural Although the medieval rool and gables effects. connote the influence of the English Domes- Stratton displays a kinship with Philip tic Revival, the dellign of this house is llIur- Webb and Norman Shaw in England in prisingly free and original. AlMlth$tioally, hill fondness for fine craftsmanship as an however, it falls far iIlhort of the AlglIl' antidote lor the cheap machine-made orna- house, and we must went lor Trowbridge's ment 01 the day. Like them he employed later houses lor greater ctsl'IUranOeand archeologicol detail in his work yet won facility. able Ireely to combine seemingly dis- ~rman~bom Albert Kahn lacked the for- parate elements into 0 harmonious whole. rom education of Stratton or Trowbridge The oppressive formality 01 the lake siM but he had absorbed a grEtqt deaf during 01 the Baldwin house, as it origInally ap- the fourteen years he work.$d in the oUlce peared, contrasts notably with the rustic of George D.

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