Geodesic-dome-like houses on Vernor

[texorama]

Does anyone know the story of the pair of blue dome houses on Vernor at St. Anne, next to TamalerÃ[a Nuevo León? I've always wondered about them, and I noticed today that they're listed for sale. Asking price is $70,000.

[bike4beer]

Those two domes are a house and a garage from what I remember. My wife and I had look at the property a couple of years ago when it was for sale and I think they were asking over $200,000. My wife didn't like the idea of living so close to the "dead hooker" tunnel that goes under the railroad tracks however.

[Gsgeorge]

My wife didn't like the idea of living so close to the "dead hooker" tunnel that goes under the railroad tracks however.

do tell more about this tunnel...

[Islandman]

One of the "scariest" tunnels in the city, followed closely by any tunnel in the Milwaukee Junction area.

My mom loves geodesic homes because of their structure and rigidity during inclement weather [[hurricanes). That instituional light blue needs to go.

[dexterferry]

jack white's hippie brother built that dome and lived there for awhile.

[Detroitej72]

jack white's hippie brother built that dome and lived there for awhile.

Do tell more info.

[casscorridor]

jack white's hippie brother built that dome and lived there for awhile.

yeahhh. my friend's bf is his nephew.

[gravitymachine]

do tell more about this tunnel...

there isn't much more to tell, its where vernor passes under the railroad tracks behind the MCS, its dark and sketchy.

[ThaFuzz]

You can see them on Google Maps [[with the satellite view turned on)

[brandon48202]

The folks at O'Connor Real Estate in Corktown have them up for sale.

www.oconnordetroit.com

[nickstone]

You can see them on Google Maps [[with the satellite view turned on)

or... you can venture in there after getting incredibly high and arrogant and make a video before you head back to Grosse Pointe or Bloomfield and it'll show how unique, quirky, and original you are [[aren't you tired of those vids?)... anyhow I'm getting really tired of that area being what it is when some business owners are trying so hard....

[Gsgeorge]

there isn't much more to tell, its where vernor passes under the railroad tracks behind the MCS, its dark and sketchy.

I never really considered this a tunnel, just a bridge underpass. It's scary but c'mon, its by the train station, you're only gonna see photographers and suburban highschoolers over there.

[gazhekwe]

There was a thread on these places on the old forum. I've been trying to find it for awhile but the search function over there is off due to maintenance.

The place was for sale by owner at the time, and he came in and talked about how he built the place by hand. I think he was asking well over $100,000.

I love the idea of that place, but I have to have windows to see outside. Also, I find the surroundings a bit depressing. Right on the lots where the house is, there are the remnants of another house, buried foundation, remains of cement steps leading up from the sidewalk, some very old landscaping. Also, I couldn't stand to have the ruins of MCS towering over me like that.

[penelope]

Riding your bike under that tunnel is always scary. At least they finally put a light under there a couple years ago.

[croweblack]

i don't know much about those houses, but i do know that the original owners sold the one closest to vernor and that it was being rented out. my friend went to look at the place and was told that there had been a homicide while a party was happening at the house and that there was a big blood mark on the floor. other than that, i've got nothing.

yep that is correct--the two guys busted in with shotguns and OOPS! there was an off duty and armed wayne county sheriff in there.

one was killed in the house, the other escaped but was later found down the street still alive but in pretty bad shape.

[dexterferry]

and to any interested purchasers, word is that wasn't just a random B&E: the domes were being used as an afterhours party venue and that is why the bad guys showed up. from what I heard, Gillis was even raising kids there before he rented it out, I think.

you can walk to honeybee and fresh tamales are just a few steps away.

[gravitymachine]

and to any interested purchasers, word is that wasn't just a random B&E: the domes were being used as an afterhours party venue and that is why the bad guys showed up. from what I heard.

jesus, how long ago was this?

I never really considered this a tunnel, just a bridge underpass. It's scary but c'mon, its by the train station, you're only gonna see photographers and suburban highschoolers over there.

go have a walk through there a couple times then, especially when its raining, lots of curiously destitute and desparate looking photographers and suburban highschoolers, but it does provide a good storm shelter for the roosevelt park summer camp. be sure to wonder at the myriad of gang graffiti down there as well. great place to stroll

[baphomet]

Leo Gillis [[jack white's brother) and I built the two domes on vernor and st. anne. Leo and I are both initiates of the Argentum Astrum a lineage type order founded by Aliester Crowley in 1907. Leo is a buckminster fuller nut and I'm a Structural Ironworker, between the two of us with assorted scattered volunteers over a two year period built the domes on a shoestring budget as a home for leo and his family.
Now it gets strange: When we were digging the footing we found what we believed to be human femur bones, one was in tact and the other broken. At this point we should've stopped and called the authorities, however we knew that this would halt the building of the domes forever so for good or for bad we said a prayer and tossed the remains back into the hole and kept going.
While

[baphomet]

building the dome in the same area we found the bones, I fell twelve feet right on my back, a back injury that I still suffer from eleven years later.
Years

[baphomet]

later after leo's divorce, he rented the domes out. a female detroit cop wandered up on the porch and shot herself and died [[same spot i fell and where we found the bones. and recently the last renter was running a blind pig in the domes and there were two people killed in a shootout in the same spot where the other incidences happened. the domes are now abandoned and leo lives in the home that he and jack and their other siblings grew up in.

[Detroitej72]

Wow, interesting stories, bap.

Thanks for the info.

[baphomet]

very depressing actually, leo and i were there last weekend and the place was trashed by theives. all that work, all that time. absorbed by the crackheads

[Gannon]

So...you're sayin'...that everything is cool, as long as you stay out of that spot...and you have a fifty-fifty chance of being in some incident if you are in law enforcement. Fifty percent it will be YOU that bites it, fifty percent being the other guy.

Hm-m-m-mm-n-n, that might keep away superstitious law enforcers...this keeps sounding better and better!


WAIT! You said it was built by volunteers?!

[Snoopy]

Leo Gillis [[jack white's brother) and I built the two domes on vernor and st. anne. Leo and I are both initiates of the Argentum Astrum a lineage type order founded by Aliester Crowley in 1907. Leo is a buckminster fuller nut and I'm a Structural Ironworker, between the two of us with assorted scattered volunteers over a two year period built the domes on a shoestring budget as a home for leo and his family.
Now it gets strange: When we were digging the footing we found what we believed to be human femur bones, one was in tact and the other broken. At this point we should've stopped and called the authorities, however we knew that this would halt the building of the domes forever so for good or for bad we said a prayer and tossed the remains back into the hole and kept going.
While

So you find what you think to be human bones, and you continue building anyway?! Hmmmm . . .

[Gsgeorge]

welcome baphomet, and thanks for the amazing stories.