Willeke-designed Webber House in Grosse Pointe Shores for Sale

[Kathleen]

Rather than add this to any existing thread, thought it deserved its own!

Webber house for sale in Grosse Pointe Shores is filled with lavish details

"From its striking terracotta chimney stacks down to its hand-carved
chestnut walls, the Oscar Webber house in Grosse Pointe Shores -- for
sale at $1.3 million -- is among the finest examples of luxury and
hand-craftsmanship from Detroit's high-flying 1920s."

"According to architectural historian Thomas Brunk, the house is
considered the best work by architect Leonard B. Willeke, who designed
homes for such historic Detroit families as the Fords, the Hudsons, the
Clays, the Kanzlers and the Webbers.

For this house, his client was Oscar Webber, one of the four Webber brothers whose uncle was the original Joseph L. Hudson.

Hudson, who had no children, mentored the four sons of his sister Mary Eleanor Webber and made them his heirs. When Hudson died in 1912, the four brothers took over the Hudson department store and ran it for decades.

Willeke was a prominent architect, but Webber was no passive client. His
requests and revisions covered several years and multiple versions of
the house. Webber constantly sought refinements, such as shaping the
interior chestnut paneling with a hand adz, not a machine. Slight
irregularities in the chestnut surface emphasized reflections off of
Lake St. Clair."

Full article with photo gallery: http://www.freep.com/article/2011121...lavish-details

[Islandman]

Lavish details do not give this house justice. Amazing house!

[pkbroch]

The house is currently for sale, see listing below, more great pictures.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...source=suggest

[Kathleen]

The Photo Gallery really shows off the beauty of this house! Stunning photos! And the Pewabic installations are exquisite!!! Kudos to Susan Tusa at the Freep for the photos.

[MikeM]

$1.3 million? That's a steal.

[mikefmich]

Tom Brunk is still kicking around. Wonder if he is on the board?

If you're out there Tom, gimme a shout.

[p69rrh51]

My eight grade graduation party was held in the 3rd floor ballroom. My wife was good friends with one of the Webber descendents could not stand the house but maybe it was her friend's grandmother and not the home.

[Packman41]

$1.3 million? That's a steal.

Agreed. That is little more than $125 per square foot - about the going rate for a tract house in some of the ring suburbs.

Now compare that with a small [[dozen? unit) converted apartment into a condo building I saw on HGTV's "Selling New York." Prices were $1000+ per square foot. A 1260 square foot condo was $1.3 million [[same as the Webber House). A 570 square foot [[smaller than my 2-car garage) STUDIO condo was listed at $625,000.

But not here.

[bailey]

Agreed. That is little more than $125 per square foot - about the going rate for a tract house in some of the ring suburbs.

Now compare that with a small [[dozen? unit) converted apartment into a condo building I saw on HGTV's "Selling New York." Prices were $1000+ per square foot. A 1260 square foot condo was $1.3 million [[same as the Webber House). A 570 square foot [[smaller than my 2-car garage) STUDIO condo was listed at $625,000.

But not here.

Ok.. yes this isn't new york, but that is even low by local standards for a home like this. I'd bet some of the problem may be that it is surrounded by the typical slapped together 70s and early 80s McMansions that tend to dominate Shores as the old estates sold off chunks of land. I mean I'd love to live in the Webber house, but take a street view of the neighborhood. almost totally devoid of character.

[MikeM]

Ok.. yes this isn't new york, but that is even low by local standards for a home like this. I'd bet some of the problem may be that it is surrounded by the typical slapped together 70s and early 80s McMansions that tend to dominate Shores as the old estates sold off chunks of land. I mean I'd love to live in the Webber house, but take a street view of the neighborhood. almost totally devoid of character.

The street is bland and the great price would be offset by the cost of upkeep and taxes [[$23k). There was a garage/servants house a couple of hundred yards west that was as large as the other homes on the street. It was torn down over a decade ago and a new home sits in its place. The driveway connecting the properties ran behind the few houses between the two.

[JBMcB]

Not to mention there could be some renovation costs involved. I know someone who moved in an older, large-ish house in the Pointe's. It's not nearly as large as the Webber house, but the cost of replacing the old oil burning furnace with a new natural gas unit was well into the middle five digits. It was going to cost nearly $10k just to cut the old furnace out and remove it.

[MikeM]

Had a friend who needed a new slate roof: $110,000

[pkbroch]

Upkeep and maintenance on a 10,000 + square foot house. $ 1,500. to $ 2,200. per month for natural gas alone.

Electric $ 200-400 per month, plus constant ongoing bills for upkeep in a house 80+ years old even in good condition.

There is a limited market for old 7000+ square mansions. The monthly upkeep bills and the taxes are usually more than the mortgage payment. And I write this as an owner of a 82 year old home in Palmer Woods.

[Whitehouse]

Gracious me!! There must have been a lot of buildings like this one which fell victim of scrappers. Nice to see this one still showing the class!!

[Islandman]

Sorry, Whitehouse, this house is luckily in a part of town, dare I call it that, where illegal scrapping would be frowned upon, to put it lightly.

[MikeM]

Scrapping would be frowned upon although it does happen in the Pointes. And 60 years ago mansions like this were sitting empty, getting vandalized, and occasionally burned by the preppy hooligans in the area.

[pkbroch]

Scrapping would be frowned upon although it does happen in the Pointes. And 60 years ago mansions like this were sitting empty, getting vandalized, and occasionally burned by the preppy hooligans in the area.

Sixty years ago was 1951, the word preppy was not even invented. Beatniks were barely making a statement. The Stan Kenton band and Les Paul and Mary Ford were making the charts . Charlie, the bird, Parker and other jazz greats were coming into their own.

Preppy hooligans, you are off by twenty years.

[Hamtragedy]

As she showed them through, they found much to love, till they went upstairs and saw seven Pewabic tile bathrooms.To O'Keefe's horror, the woman exclaimed, "Oh, we'll have to completely GUT these bathrooms." Later she told the owners: "You can't let these people buy the house."

After years of working on older houses, I'm amazed how people are so eager to rip up something as elegant as a Pewabic Tile Bathroom, or similar old bathroom, where the tiles are all set in concrete, including the walls. Often, there won't be so much as a crack in the floor. But a crappy Home Depot or Great Indoors Bathroom would look so much better?

Just goes to show you, even some people with money have no class or taste.

[Kathleen]

For now, Realtor screening will limit visitors to serious, qualified house shoppers. But the Webber house has been proposed as the site of the 2012 Junior League Designer Show House, pending an OK from the Grosse Pointe Shores City Council. If that goes through, next May everyone with the price of a ticket will have the chance to view this 1920s gem.

Will be watching for the opportunity to see this beautiful house with its 11 Pewabic tile bathrooms and 6 Pewabic tile fireplaces amidst so much other beauty!!!

[Gistok]

Thanks for the thread Kathleen... although English Tudor on the outside, it's very much "Arts & Crafts" era inside...

[Patrick]

If you haven't already done so, please get your hands on a copy of Dr. Brunk's book about Willeke. It is the best Detroit-related architecture book out there. He was fortunate enough to have the near-complete Willeke archive. Most archives have been trashed or burned.

[Zacha341]

The photos of this house are wonderful! The tiling and detail nice. To have a bedrooms and other rooms this nice and opulent.