Lost Fisher Mansion, anyone recogonize it?

[YourCorner]

I'm doing a sizable research project on the World of Architectural Antiques, a former architectural museum & store in Troy, MI built by Joseph A Bianco in 1985. The American Polish Cultural Center purchased the building in 1989 with many architectural pieces from former mansions & hotels still remaining.

I was told by the builders son [[AJ Damman Co) that the exterior stone is from "one of the Fisher houses." So far I think I can rule out the Boston-Edison district houses & also the Palmer Park houses. From the old photos of the Grayhaven Fisher houses I found I don't see any stone work.

Attached is a picture of the stone on the building. Anyone know of a Fisher house that had such work? My main suspect now is maybe a Grosse Ile home, though I haven't found any photos yet [[and yes, those limestone inserts in the stone are from the Rose Terrace, Grosse Pointe!)

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

Its definitely not from the Fisher mansion that was at the foot of Lenox across from the Handicap center, I made many a trip to the property as a teenager when it sat empty in the very early 80's [[a victim of imminent domain as was the Koerber and Garwood mansions) . Ice skating in the boathouse was a blast!

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

After a double take, it just might be from the Garwood Mansion

[YourCorner]

That must have been fun! Yeah, definitely not from the Charles Tudor style on Lenox. This photo I found claims it burned in 1980. I think William's house is the one next door you can see in the far right corner. Is that the boat house you skated in?

I thought the same thing about the Garwood after looking at some photos of the stone, so I asked the builder again today & he said Fisher house.....though it was 30 years ago & his father was running the company at the time. It's possible he could be mistaken. I'll have to compare the photo's again when I get home.

I'm thinking it would have had to be something that went down between 1971-ish & 1985 [[Joe Bianco's collecting years before building the place). Also leaning more towards the mid 80's cause I can't see anyone storing that much stone for a long period lol

[EastsideAl]

I think that may be the ruins of the Charles Fisher mansion which was on the canal, opposite the Gar Wood mansion.



The nearby Lawrence Fisher mansion on Lenox is still very much standing, and is in use by the Hare Krishna movement.



Neither looks like a candidate for your stone. However, the Gar Wood mansion, seen in the background here, certainly does.

[YourCorner]

I think the caption on that photo is in error. I believe that's the ruins of Grayhaven, the Gar Wood mansion.

The nearby Lawrence Fisher mansion on Lenox is still very much standing, and is in use by the Hare Krishna movement.

The Fishers bought the whole strip on Lenox. Charles & William built on the far east, both of which are long gone, & Lawrence on the west, yes, still standing. I'll post the pics when I get home

[EastsideAl]

The Fishers bought the whole strip on Lenox. Charles & William built on the far east, both of which are long gone, & Lawrence on the west, yes, still standing. I'll post the pics when I get home

You're correct. Upon further research, I was mistaken. Post above has been corrected.

[YourCorner]

No worries & thanks for replying EastsideAl =) How'd you find that so fast?!? I think it took me two days to figure out where Charles & Williams mansions were in Grayhaven lol. Here's a pic of Williams, but it looks like it's in construction/unfinished, don't you think?

Is that the boathouse you skated in EASTSIDE CAT?

It does look a lot like the Garwood, but the Garwood's stone is much more staggered. The fire was in July 1976, which begs the question, how long would the stone have laid around after that?

[YourCorner]

APCC Stone & Garwood stone side by side....hmmmmm....

[Lowell]

Fun stuff. And there happens to be a 'little' DetroitYES thread on the Garwood.

[old guy]

I have to say that when I first looked at that picture, the stonework really reminded me of the Garwood. No way I could verify that, but it just jumped out at me.Attachment 23039Photo by John Collier

There was a phenomenal amount of stone there.

[YourCorner]

Fun stuff. And there happens to be a 'little' DetroitYES thread on the Garwood.

Lowell, some excerpts from that 'little' thread may have led me to posting on this forum for help I will admit though, I haven't read it all lol

[YourCorner]

I have to say that when I first looked at that picture, the stonework really reminded me of the Garwood. No way I could verify that, but it just jumped out at me...

There was a phenomenal amount of stone there.

Once I discovered Garwood I thought so too old guy. Thanks for the even better close up pic! =)

It seems like the stone work is too staggered compared to the APCC...though I suppose it would have possible to just pick out more of the same rectangular shape. There is A LOT of stone on the APCC.

I still would like to find some photos of the Fisher's Grosse Ile mansions. Mike Damman has been a great source so far & I wouldn't want to discredit him with out looking at the Grosse Ile homes. Any ideas on those?

Looks like I have some reading to do on that Garwood thread! lol

[YourCorner]

I found a Grosse Ile one! It's located at 19013 Parke Ln. If you view the slide show it says:

"The 1928 pool room is the only original structure from the home of a Fisher brother."

Definitely a possibility, I see stone work thru the window on the left!

Photo Credit: David Clements

The pool house

Photo Credit: David Clements

Thou there is also a picture of a 1950's addition to the pool house, which looks like where most of the stone is located. Maybe they tried to match the original stone...or maybe I really just want this one to be it lol

It would be a little out of my time line according to some real estate information that claims the original house was built in the 1920's & the house that's there today was built in 1960, renovated in 2001.

Fisher House Grosse Ile link:
http://search.reel-scout.com/location_detail.aspx?id=014-10006909

[Whaler]

Another Great Thread on DetroitYes!!!..Boy at first sight it really does look like the Gar Wood Stone...Agree with Old Guy!!!..Very Intresting....Whaler

[YourCorner]

Thanks Whaler! Does anyone know how long the stone at Garwood laid around there or if anyone salvaged it? I tried to read thru the Garwood Mansion thread, but found it a little hard to follow & many of the pics & links don't show =[[

In other news, I found another set of photos of the Balmoral Fisher Mansion & some details at the APCC look very similar.


This balustrade looks the same shape & size of those on top of the sign wall at the APCC.


The balustrade on the APCC sign wall, rear view.

I've been trying to find houses that had this same type of stone rail. Most have the more French looking one that is much fatter at the bottom. Maybe it was salvaged from some renovations or from a home built by the same architect?

[EastsideAl]

In other news, I found another set of photos of the Balmoral Fisher Mansion & some details at the APCC look very similar.

This balustrade looks the same shape & size of those on top of the sign wall at the APCC.

I've been trying to find houses that had this same type of stone rail. Most have the more French looking one that is much fatter at the bottom. Maybe it was salvaged from some renovations or from a home built by the same architect?

Of course the balustrade at the Balmoral Fisher mansion is still in place.



You can't see anything like it in this picture, but perhaps some of these parts are from the Fisher mansion that burned down in 1994, which was nearby in Palmer Woods on Wellesley.

[YourCorner]

Still in place, yes, but maybe a renovation or the same architect on a different property.

I wish there were more pictures of the Wm. Fisher estate in Palmer Woods :/ Unless there was some major renovations going on there before 1985, it wouldn't fit the timeline when the World of Architectural Antiques / Cultural Center building went into construction.

I'm still poking at the Grosse Ile homes [[I edited that post with pics if you didn't see above). Too bad Wayne County has poor online property records. I probably will end going thru endless Newspaper Archives =O lol

[Patrick]

Still in place, yes, but maybe a renovation or the same architect on a different property.

I wish there were more pictures of the Wm. Fisher estate in Palmer Woods :/ Unless there was some major renovations going on there before 1985, it wouldn't fit the timeline when the World of Architectural Antiques / Cultural Center building went into construction.

I'm still poking at the Grosse Ile homes [[I edited that post with pics if you didn't see above). Too bad Wayne County has poor online property records. I probably will end going thru endless Newspaper Archives =O lol

There are a number of articles regarding the burned William Fisher mansion in Palmer Woods. We actually had numerous threads on this site about it over the past 12 or 13 years. You can also find various news articles about it at the Burton Collection. I had some photos of the front facade of the home. However, the Wm Fisher home was made of red brick...they called it the "clipper ship" mansion.

[YourCorner]

Thanks Patrick =) I found a better photo of the front


Historic Images - 1991
But, unless some of that railing was taken from it before or around 1985, it doesn't fit the time line either.

My Father just told me this weekend that Joe Bianco had the stone stored behind Proto-Plastics for about a year before he built the World of Architectural Antiques. The site Plan Review from the City of Troy was November 1984, so it probably had to come from something that went down in 1983-1984.

Anyone know anything about the Grosse Ile Mansions? I emailed their Historical Society, but haven't heard back yet. What about William's home on Grayhaven? The pictures I've found look like it's still under construction & just show the boat house & lot.

You can only see a portion of it here in the Charles home fire photo.



Does that look like stone to anyone????

[YourCorner]

So, I took a drive today to the area frequently quoted as the location of the Fisher mansions "at the North end of Parke Ln" on Grosse Ile.

The known Fisher mansion location, that only has the pool house original structure, has quite a bit of stone work around the outside of the grounds.



Here, again, is the Cultural Center in Troy



Any thoughts??? There were also some other areas along the North end of Parke Ln that had pieces of stone walls that looked similar.

[YourCorner]

Well, it looks like all the research & stalking of the Fisher mansions was for not [[though enjoyable). I've acquired an old brochure of The World of Architectural Antiques, which lists the origins of some of the architectural pieces installed in the APCC.

The stone actually came from the "Dodge & Weber Mansions - Grosse Pointe"

I was just going to post a picture, but my scan is 42MB! lol From an old Grosse Pointe News article, the Weber Mansion was located around Lake Shore & Provencal & torn down sometime in 1984 for the Windemere Place development.

Anyone familiar with it?

I haven't done that much poking around yet & I'll reduce the size of the photos to post.

[Packman41]

Sorry I got into this tread so late. Joe Bianco was well known in the collector car world and often invited car groups out to his home. He always talked about how he bought architectural pieces, stonework, etc. from Rose Terrace, the Dodge mansion in GP.

[YourCorner]

No worries Packman41. The Rose Terrace pieces of the building are easy to spot, but do you know anything else about any of the other pieces in the old World of Architectural Antiques, Proto-Plastics or his home???

[YourCorner]

Here are the scan photos of the brochure =)

[IMG]World of Architectural Antiques PG1 by yourcorner75, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]World of Architectural Antiques PG2 by yourcorner75, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]World of Architectural Antiques PG3 by yourcorner75, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]World of Architectural Antiques PG4 by yourcorner75, on Flickr[/IMG]