Lafayette Park Phased History

[Dexlin]

I have another architectural question. Lafayette Park is a pretty giant development. I've been able to find that it appears that Chicago real estate financier Herb Greenwald developed Lafayette Pavilion first [[1958), and then the Lafayette Town house and Court Houses on Nicolet and Joliet west of the park by 1959 before Greenwald died that year. The Lafayette Towers on the east side of the park also appear to have been part of his original plan, but weren't completed until after his death [[1963).

Beyond that, though, thigns aren't as well documented. So I was wondering if any of you might happen to know who developed the other phases and when, particularly all of the stuff built along Orleans, including Cherboneau and Chateaufort and the shopping center at the corner with Lafayette. And then the Lafayette Park Extension south of Lafayette, particularly the stuff on Navarre, Ducharme Place, and then all the stuff fronting Larned [[Carlton Apartments, the complex at the corner of Larned and Orleans)?

1300 Lafayette actually has a lot of information on it, so I don't really need information about that tower, but the low-rise stuff I have no idea about.

BTW, is the block directly west of Lafayette Park Extension - the block across Rivard bound on the west by 375 - also part of Lafayette Park, or something simply designed to look similar to the stuff in the Extension?

[Neilr]

I don't know who the developers were; but here's some of the architects.

City Place Detroit [[Four Freedoms House) [[Windsor Tower) John Hans Graham & Assoc.

Parc Lafayette [[Regency Square): Green & Savin

Chateaufort Place THs: Lorenz & Paski

Cherboneau Place North: Ervin E. Kamp & Assoc.

Cherboneau Place South: Clifford Wright & Assoc.

Leland Lofts [[Nellie Leland School): Malcomson & Higginbotham

Chrysler School: Gould, Moss & Joseph

Shopping Plaza: King & Lewis

This information is from a trifold published by the Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board.

[Dexlin]

I didn't even consider they would have it, but it looks like the wiki page of Lafayette Park literally answers every question I had in my original post. lol

I guess my only question left is if the Lafayette Park has a neighborhood association that covers the entirely of both of its blocks? There seems to be some question about whether the stuff on Larned [[Carlton Apartments and Palms East Apartments) is Lafayette Park even though it's geographically within the Lafaytte Park Extension, while at the same time they seem to include as part of the development the Jean Rivard Apartments, which are across Rivard from the Extension. So if they have a neighborhood association, I'm sure it would show/describe boundaries.

BTW, as for the single-family units, where are the 2-story Town Houses located relative to the fewer 1-story Court Houses?

Anyway, with most of that covered, I'd be even more interested about the history of the even more expansive Elwood Park across the Dequindre Cut. There is so much over that way in terms of different housing developments it makes my head spin.

[48202]

According to a September 4, 1962 Detroit Free Press Article, Cherboneau Place South was funded by the Detroit Teachers Credit Union, and developed by Hillock Ecclestone & Co.

Cherboneau Place North was developed by E. Lloyd Ecclestone after he bought out his partner. It was the first condomininium in Michigan according to this article:

http://www.neco.org/medal-of-honor/m...medalist=28641

[p69rrh51]

I didn't even consider they would have it, but it looks like the wiki page of Lafayette Park literally answers every question I had in my original post. lol

I guess my only question left is if the Lafayette Park has a neighborhood association that covers the entirely of both of its blocks? There seems to be some question about whether the stuff on Larned [[Carlton Apartments and Palms East Apartments) is Lafayette Park even though it's geographically within the Lafaytte Park Extension, while at the same time they seem to include as part of the development the Jean Rivard Apartments, which are across Rivard from the Extension. So if they have a neighborhood association, I'm sure it would show/describe boundaries.

BTW, as for the single-family units, where are the 2-story Town Houses located relative to the fewer 1-story Court Houses?

Anyway, with most of that covered, I'd be even more interested about the history of the even more expansive Elwood Park across the Dequindre Cut. There is so much over that way in terms of different housing developments it makes my head spin.

Wikipedia is a piece of shit when it comes to Detroit architectural history. Its banned from my Facebook group. For a better information try reading the final report for the historic district.

http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/d...l%20Report.pdf

[Dexlin]

Of course with wiki you always have to look at the sourcing, but in this case, the article seems very well sourced. Like I said, I didn't even bother to look originally because I didn't think the article would be so well fleshed out...but there you go. It really is. Thanks for supplying me with the report for the historic district, though. I'm sure it'll help fill in the remaining blanks.

EDIT: Just got through reading the "social history" section of the report. Man, did the death of Greenwald really change the vision of the neighborhood. But, boy, I didn't realize how instantly popular the place was [[and remains). The report says there was a waiting list as early as 1964 for the neighborhood.

Further down, I see it talks about Lafayette Park having been the example set for Elmwood Park where they hoped to correct a few of the problems in the development of Lafayette Park. Seems like they repeated them, though, and with Elmwood Park not being as architecturally significant and with even more developers, to boot. However, as "urban renewal" goes, these two are some of the few successful examples of it. And by that I mean that the mistakes and problems of the "Parks" haven't necessitated large-scale demolitions and rebuildings.

Owned by four cooperative associations, the townhouse complex was built in 1958-60 on an eighteen-acre site west of the central park. Its twenty-one buildings accommodate 186 units. Four of the buildings are one-story and contain "courthouses" units with walled courtyards in the rear. Approximately 218 feet long and 42 feet deep, each of these buildings houses six units. All other buildings are two-story. Fifteen of these contain ten units each and are about 182 feet long and thirty-eight feet deep. The remaining two buildings both contain six units; they have the same depth as the other two-story structures but are roughly 110 feet long.

This seems to answer some of my question about the low-rises, though I am still unclear about which structures are on which of the two streets.

[southen]

I guess my only question left is if the Lafayette Park has a neighborhood association that covers the entirely of both of its blocks? There seems to be some question about whether the stuff on Larned [[Carlton Apartments and Palms East Apartments) is Lafayette Park even though it's geographically within the Lafaytte Park Extension, while at the same time they seem to include as part of the development the Jean Rivard Apartments, which are across Rivard from the Extension. So if they have a neighborhood association, I'm sure it would show/describe boundaries.

BTW, as for the single-family units, where are the 2-story Town Houses located relative to the fewer 1-story Court Houses?

Lafayette Park does not have a neighborhood association but the neighborhood does coordinate with Jefferson East but that is primarily based on leadership in each development in the neighborhood. I belong to one of the Mies town home co-ops and we are always in communication with our neighbors regarding issues, but there isn't one entity that oversees everything in Lafayette Park.

As for the location of units, the courtyard units are located off of Nicolet and Joliet while the two story units surround them and are much more prevalent throughout the neighborhood. If driving or walking by you will likely only see the two-story units.