Facebook image posted by The Ford Motor Compamy

[p69rrh51]

I was looking through my facebook page and came across this image of a Model T. While the model T did not attract me that much [[after the first 10,000 they all start looking the same) the home in the background blew me away. Usually historic advertising/images show a very elegant home but never one you would recognize. So here we have 872 West Boston Boulevard in the background! I bet they had no clue the image was taken just a couple blocks for Henry's home on Edison. Although in 1920 when the image was taken we all know he had moved to Fairlane. Also included is a relatively current image. Its interesting the changes in 97 years.

[AGinthe313]

Very cool - thanks for sharing!

[canuck]

Great find! Didja get to tell the current owner of the house.

[Ray1936]

Dang, I love "then and now" photos! Thanks for your find!

[p69rrh51]

Dang, I love "then and now" photos! Thanks for your find!

One more then of 872 West Boston Boulevard for you. An image from a 1916 issue of Western Architect.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Someone did a nice job of enclosing the porch on the left. It looks quite original. I hate enclosures or additions that do not blend in with the original structure.

[Scottathew]

Someone did a nice job of enclosing the porch on the left. It looks quite original. I hate enclosures or additions that do not blend in with the original structure.

I agree.

Thanks for sharing with us!

[poobert]

Someone did a nice job of enclosing the porch on the left. It looks quite original. I hate enclosures or additions that do not blend in with the original structure.

House looks nice still, too - except for the window unit a/c in the front, hehe - but I bet it gets pretty hot up there.

[iheartthed]

Someone did a nice job of enclosing the porch on the left. It looks quite original. I hate enclosures or additions that do not blend in with the original structure.

Yeah, I was gonna say that it's remarkable how little the house has changed when I noticed that. Still remarkable how close it resembles the picture from a century ago. You can easily tell that they are the same building, unlike some other structures that are that old.

[Neilr]

From the Boston Edison website:
http://www.historicbostonedison.org/history.shtml


872 Boston Blvd. was built for Frank Teal. Charles Feinberg bought the house in the 1940's.


"Frank C. Teal
Frank C. Teal was born in Rochester, New York, in 1864. He studied for a technical education, and in 1889 came to Detroit to ork for the Brush Electric Company. Only two years later, Teal founded his own independent electical supply company, the Frank Teal Co. He married Carolyn B. Fox in 1897, with whom he had one daugher, Theodora. Carolyn passed away in 1908, and in 1912 Teal married Belle Rogers. Soon after, the couple built a home at 872 W. Boston, where they lived together until Frank Teal passed away in the 1930s. Belle Teal remained in the house until the 1940s, after which it was sold to Charles C. Feinberg."

"Charles E. Feinberg

"Charles Feinberg was born in England in 1900 and moved to America at the age of 23. He obtained managerial positions at Detroit's Regal Shoe Company and Silent Automatic Corporation before moving to Argo Oil, where he was vice president for 23 years and president for seven. He ended his career as vice president of the Speedway Petroleum Corporation.
Feinberg was an avid collector of materials related to James Joyce, Walt Whitman and other modern American and English authors. He donated portions of his collection to Albion College, Southern Illinois University, the University of Texas, and Louisiana Tech, and supplied an important collection of Walt Whitman papers to the Library of Congress. Feinberg resided in two homes in Boston-Edison: 2215 W. Boston in the late 1930s and 872 W. Boston [[the house built by Frank C. Teal) from the late 1940s through the 1970s."


and from the NYT:
"Charles Feinberg, 88, A Whitman Collector
Published: March 04, 1988


Charles E. Feinberg, a book and manuscript collector who specialized in the works of Walt Whitman, died Tuesday of heart failure at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami. He was 88 years old and maintained residences in Detroit and Florida.
Mr. Feinberg, who prospered as a fuel-oil distributor in Detroit, began his Whitman collection in 1919 and continued to add many letters, manuscripts and books. He frequently lectured on Whitman at universities around the country. Mr. Feinberg, an honorary vice president of the American Friends of Hebrew University for 30 years, received the S. Y. Agnon Gold Medal this year for intellectual achievement from Hebrew University.
He is survived by his wife, Lenore, of Detroit; a son, Bartley, of Las Vegas, and two daughters, Judith Kuehne, of London, and Suzanne Ness, of Jerusalem."


For years, the house had the windows barred from basement to attic. The Feinberg family [[IIRC, a brother) lived in the house until, perhaps, ±10 years ago.

[cman710]

Someone did a nice job of enclosing the porch on the left. It looks quite original. I hate enclosures or additions that do not blend in with the original structure.

I agree that the job was well done, but to me, the enclosure makes the house look slightly out of balance.

[prokopowicz]

I agree that the job was well done, but to me, the enclosure makes the house look slightly out of balance.

The house looks very roomy, but someone still wanted a bit of new space. I see this all the time in Oak Park IL - a nice old suburb with a lot of B-E style houses. One house I visited had huge rooms, like from Citizen Kane, and on the side of the house was a small enclosed porch, with indoor-outdoor carpeting, where the TV and couch was. It seemed that the couple spent all their time in that room.

I don't understand the urge to create new space in a house that is already plenty big, but apparently it is strong in lots of people.