Wayne State Buys the Frank Hecker Mansion

[Lowell]

Crain's is reporting that Detroit's most magnificent gilded age mansion has been acquired by Wayne State.

"Built between 1889 and 1892, the mansion was once the home of industrial tycoon Col. Frank J. Hecker, housed the Smiley Bros. Music Co. and most recently has been the home of the offices of personal injury law firm Charfoos & Christensen PC that since 2011 has been looking to sell and move out.

The property consists of the 21,000-square-foot mansion, which has more than a dozen fireplaces, and a 5,700-square-foot carriage house.

The university plans to move the roughly 15 Alumni Relations Department employees there from Gilmour Mall in the spring, said Rick Nork, Wayne State’s vice president of finance and business operations, treasurer and CFO.

It will also be used for alumni-related activities and for emeritus faculty events, he said.

Matt Lockwood, Wayne State’s director of communications, said the university will drop the reference to Smiley Bros. in the mansion’s name and instead call it the Hecker House."

I was given a tour of it by then owner Larry Charfoos not long after his law firm had acquired it from Smiley Brother pianos and then did a massive restoration, well remodeling at least as it had previously been turned into a commercial space. The condition was excellent but was not longer a residential mansion as it originally had been and was more like a luxury office space.

The carriage house had been turned into a mock court room for practice trials.

I'm having some trouble parsing Wayne State's purpose for getting it. It's a neat office space but the upkeep, if they are maintain its historicity, doesn't seem cost effective on the surface. Perhaps it adds to the brand. What do you think?

[Jason]

I think they figure the architecture is good for schmoozing alumni.

[Gistok]

They already own the Beecher Mansion across the street from the Hecker Mansion.

[Danny]

Frank Hecker was one of the co-founders of the Peninsular Car Company. [[ It's not making automobiles), it's meant for shipping products across the country. Hecker was best friend to Charles Freer who built his house next door in E. Ferry St. He too was co-founders of the Peninsular Car Company. Some folks say the Hecker and Freer has a pre-homosexual relationship.

[Neilr]

When Col. Hecker left his mansion at Woodward and Ferry he moved to equally beautiful, albeit smaller, more permanent quarters further out Woodward that were designed by Stanford White.



http://www.flickriver.com/places/Uni...Hecker/search/
[[Not my photo.)

[belleislerunner]

The funding for WSU purchasing the Hecker Mansion was actually donated by the Hartman estate, so it doesn't impact other capital funds. Will be interesting to see what develops.

http://bog.wayne.edu/meetings/old_fi..._14_Item_K.pdf

[Wesley Mouch]

...I'm having some trouble parsing Wayne State's purpose for getting it. It's a neat office space but the upkeep, if they are maintain its historicity, doesn't seem cost effective on the surface. Perhaps it adds to the brand. What do you think?

What kind of trouble do you mean? WSU gains a beautiful building for the alumni relations department. It is a high-quality building that speaks to the quality WSU no doubt wants to convey. They are contributing to historic preservation. This makes a great addition to WSU's collection of fine architecture. They should be proud. And we should be pleased that they are supporting historic preservation rather than tearing that schit down.

Bravo WSU.

[TheUsualSuspect]

What kind of trouble do you mean? WSU gains a beautiful building for the alumni relations department. It is a high-quality building that speaks to the quality WSU no doubt wants to convey. They are contributing to historic preservation. This makes a great addition to WSU's collection of fine architecture. They should be proud. And we should be pleased that they are supporting historic preservation rather than tearing that schit down.

Bravo WSU.

Ditto. What a beautiful building!

[Kathleen]

They already own the Beecher Mansion across the street from the Hecker Mansion.

Wayne State U also owns the Charles Lang Freer House, right behind Hecker House on Ferry St., currently home to the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute. And they have done a fab job of committing to maintaining the house and restoring it to the way it was when Freer lived there.

I can't think of a better owner for the Hecker House than WSU!! Between WSU and CCS and the Inn on Ferry Street, this historic block and neighborhood in our Cultural Center is being preserved for generations to come.

[Honky Tonk]

What kind of trouble do you mean? WSU gains a beautiful building for the alumni relations department. It is a high-quality building that speaks to the quality WSU no doubt wants to convey. They are contributing to historic preservation. This makes a great addition to WSU's collection of fine architecture. They should be proud. And we should be pleased that they are supporting historic preservation rather than tearing that schit down.

Bravo WSU.

Me three........

[Gistok]

What kind of trouble do you mean? WSU gains a beautiful building for the alumni relations department. It is a high-quality building that speaks to the quality WSU no doubt wants to convey. They are contributing to historic preservation. This makes a great addition to WSU's collection of fine architecture. They should be proud. And we should be pleased that they are supporting historic preservation rather than tearing that schit down.

Bravo WSU.

Wesley... you are aware that "Historic Preservation" and WSU weren't always in sync.... Preservation Wayne [[now Preservation Detroit)... was founded in 1975 because WSU had the brilliant idea of tearing down the Queen Anne Style home of WSU's first president... David MacKenzie.... in order to install a storm drain.

And there has been a long fought battle to preserve other structures in the WSU area... such as the now lost gem known as the Gleaners Building facing Woodward Ave.

And I believe that historic mansion next to the former Maccabee's Building on Woodward was at one time also in danger of being torn down. The struggle between Preservation Wayne and WSU was a long and drawn out battle.

Probably the greatest loss in then entire WSU area was the loss of MacKenzie Hall.... a tall historic structure with a Pewabic Pottery lined lobby. And why was that torn down.... WSU never maintained it... and they said it was delapidated, and was torn down in the early 1990s ..... for parking.

http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/node/3218
http://www.historicdetroit.org/postc...ackenzie-hall/


So although WSU might finally "get it" as far as historic preservation goes.... it was a LONG battle to get them to where they are today....

[TheUsualSuspect]

Probably the greatest loss in then entire WSU area was the loss of MacKenzie Hall.... a tall historic structure with a Pewabic Pottery lined lobby. And why was that torn down.... WSU never maintained it... and they said it was delapidated, and was torn down in the early 1990s ..... for parking.

http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/node/3218
http://www.historicdetroit.org/postc...ackenzie-hall/


So although WSU might finally "get it" as far as historic preservation goes.... it was a LONG battle to get them to where they are today....

I was a WSU student in the early 80's. My math prof's office was in MacKenzie hall. It struck me as a run-down bldg. at the time. Didn't notice the pottery in the lobby. Wish I could have remembered it better.

Was FAR too close to the bldg when a student decided to end her life by jumping from the top. That memory I wish I could erase.

Thanks for the pictures though.

[DetroitPlanner]

I was a WSU student in the early 80's. My math prof's office was in MacKenzie hall. It struck me as a run-down bldg. at the time. Didn't notice the pottery in the lobby. Wish I could have remembered it better.

Was FAR too close to the bldg when a student decided to end her life by jumping from the top. That memory I wish I could erase.

Thanks for the pictures though.

I was down there at that time too. I concur that the building was very run down, dark, and not well kept. If you had to go to an office in there you had to put up with slow tiny elevators, dirt, ugly partitions. It really could have been a showpiece, but the administration could not have cared less about it.

[FormerDetroiter]

That is an absolutely stunning photograph!!!!

[Ray1936]

I gave piano recitals there nearly 70 years ago [[music classes of Elmer Mundt). I never was much good, but attained a wonderful appreciation of music from my forced piano lessons. Memories!

[Wesley Mouch]

Wesley... you are aware that "Historic Preservation" and WSU weren't always in sync.... Preservation Wayne [[now Preservation Detroit)... was founded in 1975 because WSU had the brilliant idea of tearing down the Queen Anne Style home of WSU's first president... David MacKenzie.... in order to install a storm drain....So although WSU might finally "get it" as far as historic preservation goes.... it was a LONG battle to get them to where they are today....

Very aware. And for precisely that reason I want to give the kudos for their current actions.

University boards come and go. Administrators come and go. The current regime seems to 'get it'. So very glad to see some applause for them. Applause just might help build a tradition of historic preservation.

We can't change the past. But we can change the future.

[motz]

Very aware. And for precisely that reason I want to give the kudos for their current actions.

University boards come and go. Administrators come and go. The current regime seems to 'get it'. So very glad to see some applause for them. Applause just might help build a tradition of historic preservation.

We can't change the past. But we can change the future.

Yay we agree! I was extremely happy to see them purchase the building instead of a private investor. Their recent track record is much better than everything I have read from the 80s and prior, and I think we as both citizens, alumini, current students, etc. need to applaud this type of behavior, while reminding the younger generations [[say, mine) about what happened in the past. If it wasn't for everyone here, I wouldn't know about WSU's terrible preservation history

[Danny]

It's a pity that the Peacock Room was disassembled and was taken to Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. It should have stayed in the Freer House.


Charles Freer loves to travel all over Southeast and East Asia. He brought some of the Chinese, Japanese and Indian Art to his house. The Peacock Room was one of his examples of Asian art. During his final years while Freer was traveling to Tibet, He contracted Syphilis. He decided to remain in Tibet and later to New York City where he died from apoplexy. His house was sold to The relatives to the Fisher Bros. After 1919 to the 1950s, the house was sold to Wayne State University where it used to ran as a Children's Psychiatric Research Center and Later a preservation center and Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute.

[Willi]

I wish universities would spend money on education and a whole lot less on art, architecture, etc.
My memories of Wayne State in the late 80's was Old Main with peeling paint and disrepair.
An engineering building that leaked rainwater into an electronics lab, with electricity, yikes !.
But they managed to buy a few pieces of art worth millions those years as well, ho hom status quo.
Mis-placed priorities for an institution of higher learning

[noise]

I wish universities would spend money on education and a whole lot less on art, architecture, etc.
My memories of Wayne State in the late 80's was Old Main with peeling paint and disrepair.
An engineering building that leaked rainwater into an electronics lab, with electricity, yikes !.
But they managed to buy a few pieces of art worth millions those years as well, ho hom status quo.
Mis-placed priorities for an institution of higher learning

You should break down the actual figures here so you don't sound like you're simply blowing hot air.

[DetroitPlanner]

I wish universities would spend money on education and a whole lot less on art, architecture, etc.
My memories of Wayne State in the late 80's was Old Main with peeling paint and disrepair.
An engineering building that leaked rainwater into an electronics lab, with electricity, yikes !.
But they managed to buy a few pieces of art worth millions those years as well, ho hom status quo.
Mis-placed priorities for an institution of higher learning

"AND WE LIKED IT DAMMIT!!"

I am far more concerned about the amount of money Universities spend on marketing themselves to chase a smaller demographic.

[motz]

You should break down the actual figures here so you don't sound like you're simply blowing hot air.

Actually he can't! Because they bought it with donated funds! Oh no! What will he choose to whine about regarding WSU next?

The funding for WSU purchasing the Hecker Mansion was actually donated by the Hartman estate, so it doesn't impact other capital funds. Will be interesting to see what develops.

http://bog.wayne.edu/meetings/old_fi..._14_Item_K.pdf

[Gistok]

Actually he can't! Because they bought it with donated funds! Oh no! What will he choose to whine about regarding WSU next?

Maybe he's mad cuz they didn't tear down the David MacKenzie house to replace it with that storm drain.... I bet all that storm water is now going to the Red Run drain!!

[Willi]

I'm mad because we had shitty lab equipment, dilapidated buildings, almost lost accreditation ,
BUT they still managed to buy, acquire, display, pieces of horrible artwork many students hated.
Who cares if a campus has twisted pieces of metal ""called art"" when the basics are neglected.

If they wanted to """donate"" something, how about something that actually HELPS students ?
Maybe they could have donated a year of Free parking, or something like that.

Wikipedia posting :
By the 1980s though, falling ceilings, peeling paint, vandalism, a fire,
plumbing failures, leaking roofs, and deferred maintenance
had taken their toll on Old Main.
To remedy the situation Wayne State University launched a fund raising campaign
in 1995, and later sought state assistance. As a result, large-scale renovations
of the structure were begun that year. Electrical and mechanical systems
were replaced, and much of the building is restored to its original look.
Today, the renovated Old Main serves as the home of the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of Wayne State University
as well as accommodating many other classes
in a wide variety of subjects.
Old Main now reflects the University's history, growth and development,
and is widely seen as the symbol of Wayne State University.

WSU blew a LOT of hot air up peoples nostrils as they paid tuition during the late 1980's
The students that went there during this time period know darn well it reeked of neglect.

[DetroitPlanner]

Maybe he's mad cuz they didn't tear down the David MacKenzie house to replace it with that storm drain.... I bet all that storm water is now going to the Red Run drain!!

That is not a storm drain it is a cesspool!