A question about Brownstones.

[stasu1213]

We're there ever any Brownstones in Detroit?

[preserve]

Are you asking about buildings made with a certain stone or row houses in general?

[stasu1213]

Both. Were there any rows of Brownstones in Detroit such as the ones that are in Brooklyn? Detroit has a few row houses but that are not Brownstones

[kuuma]

Both. Were there any rows of Brownstones in Detroit such as the ones that are in Brooklyn? Detroit has a few row houses but that are not Brownstones

from what i recall from my time as a Brooklynite, the sandstone quarries that were mined to obtain the iconic materials for brownstone townhouses were concentrated on Long Island and the east coast, which helped them proliferate in that region, but the logistical setbacks of transporting that much sandstone out to the midwest meant that other building materials were more practical in Detroit and Chicago [["Greystone" building made from a different kind of sandstone, mined in Indiana, are more common in our part of the nation). But there's gotta be some brownstone buildings left over in Detroit... I would love to learn about them if so.

[Dumpling]

A prior thread on a similar topic.

https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showth...stones-!/page4

The following might be new construction however.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...70457708_zpid/

[wolverine]

Looking a historic photos, I don’t ever recall seeing any. Brownstones refer to the material of construction, although people will often post pictures of rowhouses or townhomes, but they aren’t really the same. Detroit has attached homes, almost always brick construction and more often than not, it’s actually one combined building. Meaning that if you were to demolish one unit, it would substantially damage or destroy the combined structure. The typical American rowhouse could be demolished without damaging either side as you would find in Baltimore, NYC or Philadelphia.

Rowhouses exist the Midwest but are uncommon. Chicago had many before the fire but stopped building them for detached housing. Same with St. Louis and Cincinnati. My own neighborhood has actual rowhouses, but it’s sort of a fluke as the developer built them on slightly narrower lots 110 years ago at 20’, compared to the 25’ wide lots that allowed detached housing.

[Gistok]

Brown sandstone may not be native to Michigan, but red Lake Superior sandstone is. Some of the churches along Woodward Ave. are made of that material, and I thought the Blenheim Apartments Building may be made of that material, although it might just be regular red brick, not really certain at the moment.

[313WX]

Detroit was mainly a city of duplexes and garden-style apartments during its peak.

Most of these areas, unfortunately, were either destroyed during the urban renewal period, burned down to rubble in 1967, or were gradually demolished as people abandoned the city.

Now, primarily what's left are the suburban tract houses you see in the outer neighborhoods.

[stasu1213]

Looking a historic photos, I don’t ever recall seeing any. Brownstones refer to the material of construction, although people will often post pictures of rowhouses or townhomes, but they aren’t really the same. Detroit has attached homes, almost always brick construction and more often than not, it’s actually one combined building. Meaning that if you were to demolish one unit, it would substantially damage or destroy the combined structure. The typical American rowhouse could be demolished without damaging either side as you would find in Baltimore, NYC or Philadelphia.

Rowhouses exist the Midwest but are uncommon. Chicago had many before the fire but stopped building them for detached housing. Same with St. Louis and Cincinnati. My own neighborhood has actual rowhouses, but it’s sort of a fluke as the developer built them on slightly narrower lots 110 years ago at 20’, compared to the 25’ wide lots that allowed detached housing.

Are you in Detroit

[Danny]

I wish Detroit has more brownstone homes. Instead we have these!

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3440...!7i5760!8i2880

[preserve]

I agree, along side all of the modern[[?) cookie cutter row houses, here in Corktown we do have some older and very nice looking on Leverette that have been rehabbed on the inside, but still look fantastic on the outside.

[hybridy]

Timing of the boom [[henry ford), availability of land [[flat + buildable), cash [[flush created by mobility boom), cars cars and cars

https://www.modeldmedia.com/features/detroit-housing-pt1-111715.aspx

The first 200 years of Detroit’s growth did little to establish a strong prevalence for any particular type of housing in the city, especially intensively built urban housing, like apartment blocks or row houses. We were small for a long time. Then we grew substantially with a mix of housing that relied on an infrastructure of proximity and walkability through the early years of the 20th century. Not unlike a lot of other places in the U.S.

But then, Detroit exploded like a supernova -- with people, with resources, with possibility. A new idea began to grip the imaginations of the city's people: that everyone should aspire to own, not rent, their home, and that each home be separate from its neighbor. No city on earth grew as fast as Detroit did between 1910 and 1930, with workers streaming up from the American South and all over the world. And then even more came in the years during and after World War II. And we perfected--and got addicted to--a new model for building cities. We built prolifically, to the exclusion of other housing types. The single-family detached house proliferated here, a “monocrop” like no other, filling mile upon mile of subdivision.

[Sehv313]

Rowhomes are scattered all around the city [[usually south of I-94 Fwy. starting from the corner to the alley). The Westside and Eastside still have few that are still standing but Southwest Detroit tends to have almost all of theirs still in great condition.

[expatriate]

A prior thread on a similar topic.

https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showth...stones-!/page4

The following might be new construction however.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...70457708_zpid/

Is Zillow crazy or are people really paying $675K for two bedroom [[granted very large) apartments here?

[preserve]

The other units are already sold, so yes they are

[Hermod]

What used to be very common in Detroiot were "income flats" which were identifiable by two front doors on the front porch. The owner lived downstairs and rented oput the upstairs for "hopefully" enough to pay his mortgage.

[Gistok]

What used to be very common in Detroiot were "income flats" which were identifiable by two front doors on the front porch. The owner lived downstairs and rented oput the upstairs for "hopefully" enough to pay his mortgage.

I remember as a very young child living on Medbury in South Poletown, and we lived in the lower flat of an "income flat". Many of them in that neighborhood had only 1 front door, but the inside landing had a lockable door to the lower flat, and another lockable door at the top of the stairs to the upper flat.

I'm curious to know if that was as plentiful as the 2 outer door variety?

[preserve]

Both kinds of income flats in this neighborhood, most of the one door outside/two inside are currently being converted back to one family

[stasu1213]

Brownstones are really different buildings connected in rows. They may be covered with Brownstone sand but each has a slightly different design They. could remind you of the buildings on Merchant Row on Woodward. A row of buildings connected together but each has it own design even though they are the same height. One building on Merchant's Row could be razed but the razing would not damage the building next to it

[13606Cedargrove]

Both kinds of income flats in this neighborhood, most of the one door outside/two inside are currently being converted back to one family

I grew up in an "income" as my real estate agent uncle used to call them. He loved to have them in his inventory because they were easier to sell and fetched a higher price than a single family [[more commission). Yes, the "it pays for itself/covers the mortgage angle was desirable and possible. Ours was the two-door side-by-side arrangement [[the doors, that is). There were a couple with doors on opposite sides of the porch, too. I would estimate about 15% of our neighborhood were incomes, including craftsmen style converted to incomes. [[Six and Gratiot).

[Former_Detroiter]

I grew up on Conner between Jefferson and Freud. One side of the street were what we called two family flats with one door entrances. There were no two door entrances. In most cases the owner of those houses lived elsewhere and both family's were renters. The houses on the other side of the street were all single family homes. Most of the people on that side were homeowners.

[stasu1213]

What bloggers call Brownstones on this site are really rowhomes. Brownstones, eventhough they are so close together are not really connected as rowhomes are. There is a small area that divide one brownstone from another even though they look connected to one who is looking at them but not closely. The buildings that line Woodward from John R to Grand Circus Park look connected but really are not. Rowhomes shown on this site are actually connected with firewalls dividing them

[hybridy]

What used to be very common in Detriot were "income flats" which were identifiable by two front doors on the front porch. The owner lived downstairs and rented oput the upstairs for "hopefully" enough to pay his mortgage.

Very common in Milwaukee and colloquially referred to as 'Polish Flats'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_flat

https://uwm.edu/mkepolonia/polish-flats/

This arrangement enabled a family of limited means to end up with both a home and a modestly priced rental apartment unit. Most of the remaining Polish flats are found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[1] Since Polish American immigrants prized land ownership in their own culture, this solution which was prominent in the areas they settled in came to be associated with them.^[2] Similar housing was common in many Detroit neighborhoods built before World War II

[stasu1213]

The only thing that I could think of that could be comparable to bthe functions of Brownstones as to having private entrances, one could be razed with damage done to the connecting dwelling, are the duplexes that lined streets such as Morris's, Schaefer, Kelly, and Greenfield. However, they are made on a house platform and design

[Hermod]

The only thing that I could think of that could be comparable to bthe functions of Brownstones as to having private entrances, one could be razed with damage done to the connecting dwelling, are the duplexes that lined streets such as Morris's, Schaefer, Kelly, and Greenfield. However, they are made on a house platform and design

Just after WWII, there were two blocks worth of red brick duplexes built on Nottingham between Grayton and Morang.