Oldest building still in use in CBD

[p69rrh51]

There is also the odd case of St. John's Episcopal Church on Woodward. A small chapel was completed and opened in 1859, but the larger church wasn't completed and opened until Dec. 1861, 8 months after the attack on Ft. Sumpter. The original chapel was disassembled and moved further back when the church was expanded in the 1890s, and the whole church was moved back when Woodward was widened in 1936.

Fort Street Presbyterian is another odd case. The first church was completed in 1855, but it was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1876. In 1877 the church was rebuilt to the original plans. It was heavily damaged by fire again in 1914, and again rebuilt according to the original plans.

Tommy Burelle, who runs Tommy's Bar directly behind Fort St. Presbyterian, claims his building was built in the 1840s, but I have never seen any documentation of that.

Architect Charles H. Marsh was contracted for the design work after the 1876 fire at Fort Street Presbyterian. He did not follow the original design but did a sympathetic rehab, although most of the alterations were made to the interior. In 1914 William B. Stratton was contracted design/superintend the repairs from that fire. Again Stratton made alterations to the interior of the building. The steeple itself been altered several times, I have found at least 4 different occasions the steeple has been damaged by the weather including the same 88MPH wind storm that struck St. Albertus on Good Friday 1913. Last there is the 1907 church house that was designed by John Scott.

[p69rrh51]

It was reportedly built in 1851, making it one of the very few pre-Civil War structures in the CBD [[as defined by GPCharles at the top of the thread), along with Sts. Peter & Paul, Mariners Church, and the remaining 1840s commercial buildings on Randolph. I believe that to be the total list of confirmable pre-1860 buildings in that area, but I'm interested if anyone has any additions.

That house is also one of several pre-Civil War houses on E. Jefferson, along with the aforementioned Trowbridge House, the Sibley House, the Campau House, and the Moross House [[these 4 houses are outside of the CBD as defined here). Of course, we lost one of these a few years back when the 1850 Chene House [[Little Harry's) was demolished to clear the way for IHOP.

Just west of downtown, Most Holy Trinity dates from 1855, and the nearby worker's rowhouse is about the same age. There may be some other houses in Corktown of similar vintage.

Where are the 1840's era buildings on Randolph?

[p69rrh51]

The building that houses Bedrock Headquarters history is attached...The Mabley Bros. & Company store dates from 1876-1880 the Metropole Hotel replaced the Mabley store which moved to the new Majestic Building. It was to be named Mabley Bldg but the recession forced Mabley to sell the structure and become a tenant.
http://detroit1701.org/Mabley%20Comp...Buildings.html

The Hotel Metropole was designed by Richard E. Raseman. Raseman used the existing building and redesigned the façade as well as making extensive alterations to the interior.

[EastsideAl]

Where are the 1840's era buildings on Randolph?

The claim is made on the Wikipedia page linked in the second post in this thread [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randol...toric_District), that the former Serman's clothing store building at the southeast corner of Randolph and Macomb, now addressed as 1238 Randolph, is actually a composite of 3 buildings fronting on Randolph, the southward 2 of which may date from the 1840s.

The source cited for this claim is this National Register of Historic Places inventory [[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/25340892 - a pdf document), which details the claim in the last paragraph on page 3. The photos referred to in that paragraph are appended to the end of the document.

On the other hand, the current Bedrock offering page for the building gives a construction date of 1905 [[https://www.bedrockdetroit.com/property/1238-randolph/). Which may also be when the building at the corner was build and/or the 3 buildings were consolidated.

[p69rrh51]

The claim is made on the Wikipedia page linked in the second post in this thread [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randol...toric_District), that the former Serman's clothing store building at the southeast corner of Randolph and Macomb, now addressed as 1238 Randolph, is actually a composite of 3 buildings fronting on Randolph, the southward 2 of which may date from the 1840s.

The source cited for this claim is this National Register of Historic Places inventory [[https://catalog.archives.gov/id/25340892 - a pdf document), which details the claim in the last paragraph on page 3. The photos referred to in that paragraph are appended to the end of the document.

On the other hand, the current Bedrock offering page for the building gives a construction date of 1905 [[https://www.bedrockdetroit.com/property/1238-randolph/). Which may also be when the building at the corner was build and/or the 3 buildings were consolidated.

The moment I see Wikipedia red flags start flying! The article is only off by a half a century but then that is why Wikipedia is banned in my Facebook groups and should be banned on here.
Designed by Gordon W. Lloyd for Robert McMillan.

1236 Randolph built in 1898 Downtown, Detroit, MI. Includes an article/rendering of the building from the January 16, 1898 edition of the Detroit Free Press.

Builder: Alexander Chapoton

Alterations and addition designed by Baxter & O'Dell in 1907.

The bay on the right is the 1907 addition.

[Meddle]

^^ I'd MUCH rather see FB banned everywhere.

[EastsideAl]

The moment I see Wikipedia red flags start flying! The article is only off by a half a century but then that is why Wikipedia is banned in my Facebook groups and should be banned on here.
Designed by Gordon W. Lloyd for Robert McMillan.

1236 Randolph built in 1898 Downtown, Detroit, MI. Includes an article/rendering of the building from the January 16, 1898 edition of the Detroit Free Press.

Builder: Alexander Chapoton

Alterations and addition designed by Baxter & O'Dell in 1907.

The bay on the right is the 1907 addition.

Very interesting. Thank you for the detail. Although I guess we can always count on you for that.

That whoever wrote that Wiki article got it wrong is not at all surprising, of course. But I wonder what accounts for the NRHP survey, which was done by the state? Somehow they seem to have entirely missed the facts about the 1898 & 1907 buildings that you posted. It looks like they concluded that there are 3 separate buildings there based on an examination of the foundation [[which may also have suggested something to them about the age of the buildings). Are there in fact 3 differing types of materials in that foundation? If so, does that indicate that the newer buildings were simply built over the previous foundations?

I've seen this misinformation, that there were surviving 1840s buildings there, floating around various places for quite a while now. I would guess that this survey is the root source of those errors.