Where is best place to look for plans/drawings of a Detroit house built in 1917?

[carlscomputers]

Greetings & Happy Holidays To All!
After going down to DPL Burton Collection and checking 1917 Polk directory, I see that the block which I live in was a new development & only had 3 houses at that time!? I was pleased to find out that I own 2 of them?
Now I want to try to track down the original designers/builders and was wondering where should I begin to look? Since Detroit is so large, I would think that those records most likely have been lost or destroyed, but maybe they've been archived on microfiche somewhere?

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[p69rrh51]

The chances the building permit for the house exists is about 0.1%. It looks like the house was built between 1909-1924. Building permits for that time frame are kept on micro film at the Historic District Advisory Board in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. If you do not mind testing your patience its worth a trip to see if the permit is on the micro film. I would suggest going there with a mind set that the permit does not exist and anything you find is a nice surprise.

[mikefmich]

There are many building permits that are out there, it's a matter of finding them. Go to this FB group & ask Benjamin Gravel. He really seems to have his thumb on this stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4127...44049/?fref=nf

Carlscomputers keep in mind the addresses in the Polk Directory in 1917 would not correspond to the number today. If you didn't know, Detroit revamped their address system in 1920.

[carlscomputers]

Thanks Mikefmich, but the 1920-21 Polk Directories are my first stop! I put the illustration so I could ask another question if anyone responded; all three of those houses are two family flats, the current addresses are, 3757-59, 3779-81, and 3785-87 Blaine. Why were 1113 and 1127 listed with 1/2 for the uppers, but 1123-25 had a whole address for each flat?

[MikeM]

Good question. Separate utilities?