Is there something significant about 2917 Marlborough in Detroit?

[kathy2trips]

It is the only remaining original house on an otherwise redeveloped block.

I noticed first, how turquoise it was! Then how small it is comparing the other houses in the area. My best amateur guess tells me it could be much older than the houses that [[once) surrounded it...like the Field House. The chimney is very narrow, and the house has a side gabled roof, instead of front-gabled like we usually see. I was curious about this; I tend notice when things "don't look right". It's neither late Victorian or Craftsman, but I'd go so far as to call it a cottage or maybe an old hunting cabin. Anybody got a clue?

Then again, it could just be a steadfast homeowner and an eminent domain thing.

If someone more informed about the neighborhood history or residential architecture would like to weigh in, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

PS:Just have to mention here that the new construction on Marlborough is very nicely done, by the way. These houses are actually enjoyable to look at, each an individual and reminiscent of the style of the area.

[Lowell]

Google Street View

It appears kept up with a recent roof and new roof vents.

[animatedmartian]

I think it was more or less eminent domain. That area was targeted for major redevelopment around 2007-2008. I'm not sure if it's related to the Fox Creek development project, but it's quite common to see new development next to old houses in that area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4bAqONfgc

[Bobl]

I don't know how significant this is, but I had a car stolen, from The Buffalo Nickel Saloon parking lot, back in the 1980s. It was found, stripped, on that block!

[Patrick]

The house looks like some proto ribbon farm design lol.

[Gistok]

... maybe it was owned by Turkia Mullin!

[Richard]

Asbestos siding was used from the 1920s and covers the flat roof section on the rear of if, for instance it had An attic fire at one time and low budget allowed for 1/2 roof replacement?

The colors are from Sherman Williams 1920s vintage collection or similar to so whoever painted it put some thought into what they were doing in regards to historic vintage colors.

Picture it with this roof on the whole house.

http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Pla...in/Detroit.htm

[Autoracks]

That seems a strange area for those houses to be.

[SWMAP]

"These houses are actually enjoyable to look at, each an individual and reminiscent of the style of the area. "

Looking at the Google view of the house right next door to the house being discussed - maybe I'm dim about architecture , but that brick with attached 2-car garage at street front and huge concrete driveway and expanse doesn't look like it is reminiscent of the style of the neighborhood in which I grew up!

[courtney]

Asbestos siding was used from the 1920s and covers the flat roof section on the rear of if, for instance it had An attic fire at one time and low budget allowed for 1/2 roof replacement?

The colors are from Sherman Williams 1920s vintage collection or similar to so whoever painted it put some thought into what they were doing in regards to historic vintage colors.

Picture it with this roof on the whole house.

http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Pla...in/Detroit.htm

It looks like a small farmhouse, despite the faintly Craftsman-y porch railing.

The back is actually not a flat roof, it does have a slope to it even if the sides go up - you can kind of see it on Google Streetview if you look at the back from the Charlevoix angle.

FWIW, Zillow has it being built in 1916, with a square footage of only 306, which I could only see if that back low-slope roof portion was an addition and the sq footage didn't include that.

Their shingles are killing me. If more aerials from the past 10 years didn't have the roof vents, I'd have said those shingles were on their last breath based on how bad they look, and the fact that the porch shingles look better. I'm not sure if people would bother to put in roof vents with shingles in that bad of condition, however.

[mccarch]

This is a long-shot, but if I had seen this house in a small town in the poorer areas of southwestern Michigan, I would guess it to be a possible log cabin, covered over with layers of wood and siding. The proportions, especially the cramped attic height, fit those of simple log cabins. However, how would it have ended up on Marlborough St? I have a 1917 Detroit City Street directory which shows Marlborough plotted and existing up to Mack, but I doubt that the street is much older than that. Could the house have been moved to this site after the former farm fields were platted into subdivisions?

[kathy2trips]

It never occurred to me that the house may have been moved. Perhaps by horse or even barge.

Thanks, you guys, for your input. I really enjoyed your comments.

[Neilr]

In the area bounded by West Warren, Paul, Greenfield, and Southfield there are many similar houses. They were moved to their present locations when the expressway was built [[I don't recall: either I94 or I96). Homeowners in the path of the planned construction were offered cash for their property. They could either leave the house or put it on a trailer and haul it to a new location. These houses were small frame buildings and relatively easy to transport. Many people bought lots on Mansfield, St. Mary's etc., built a new foundation and moved the house to the new lot. Many of these transplants were sited at the back of the lot.



The picture is one such house. Notice the new foundation.

[Eric_c]

Another interesting structure that seems appropriate to discuss here is the James Smith farm house, a pre-Civil War log cabin now on Clements, one block north of Davison Avenue and West of Rosa Parks Boulevard. It's now covered with siding and surrounded by boom era two-flats, but it's still amazing! It sits cock-eyed on its lot.

http://www.detroit1701.org/SmithFarm.htm

[kathy2trips]

Looking at the Google view of the house right next door to the house being discussed - maybe I'm dim about architecture , but that brick with attached 2-car garage at street front and huge concrete driveway and expanse doesn't look like it is reminiscent of the style of the neighborhood in which I grew up!

Well, you have to accommodate cars....and SUVs.

I'm saying the new homes incorporate vintage elements. There's a development on the east side of Detroit, I can't remember where, but it looked like 1960s Warren....where I spent my later childhood. I took it as an affront; heck, there are a bunch of homes actually in Warren for sale that look just like that! Conversely, it's hard to find a Romanesque house with a round brick turret WITH air conditioning and other modern conveniences. Sweet. At least the houses on Marlborough were a welcome attempt at creativity.

[SWMAP]

Kathy, I see what you mean. But I note your use of the phrase "at least." I always hope that we don't have to hedge our developments with words like that. I think that more thought should have gone into the building of the new housing on Marlborough. The new houses are non-descript. They utilize that suburban model of the big-butt garage visually taking over the property, the windows are cheap vinyl and won't last long. The lots are double-wide [[another suburban reference).

Look now at the housing going up in North Corktown; http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/ncork0221.aspx
All the references are urban/historic Detroit. The houses are frame [[what was once on Marlborough. The porches are 'sittable" and welcoming - also something that you can see has been left out of the new houses on Marlborough but was an amenity in the original house that is left. Note that in Corktown, the garages are accessed from the alley - another historical Detroit reference. The lots are urban lots and preserve the grid.

People will argue that neo-urbanism is a luxury for Detroit. But I think the new houses on marlborough represent a lost opportunity to really re-creat wonderful attractive urban living - not suburban wanna-be neighborhoods.

[softailrider]

I think those Corktown houses are somewhat of an improvement over the other new crap they've been puting up around the city - no where near the quality of what was put up in the 1920's and 1940's. I still think they could do way better, but, I suppose the lousy market bears some of the responsibility.

[detroitsgwenivere]

Several of us in Corktown concur. They barely have windows.