What happened to the Ransom Gillis house?

**Detroitman32** · September-19-09, 08:37 PM

I remember seeing some pics of it apparently being mothballed, in what, back in '07? Has anything happened since?

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Pictures added by DetroitYES...

**mauser** · September-20-09, 06:02 AM

It was mothballed in 2007. Im pretty sure thats the end of its story. Look how beautifully they redid the Lucien Moore home - but have they sold any units in that yet ?

Retroit · September-20-09, 11:33 AM

The cloudy day pictures were taken this spring. The partly cloudy picture was taken last fall.

**GRALR** · September-20-09, 11:38 AM

now if the city would get on it and mothball other buildings rather that demo them. We were looking at vids of some of the detroit schools.....some tech school as I recall, computers in the rooms and really quite nice. What in the world is the leadership thinking WASTE WASTE WASTE ........unreal! Such unreal beauty in D!

Retroit · September-20-09, 11:46 AM

The sign says:
Coming Soon to Brush Park Historic District
Historic Rehabilitation of
205 Alfred Street
Owner and sponsor: City of Detroit - Planning and Development Department
Professional Services - Economic Development Corporation of City of Detroit
Stabilization & Mothballing Contractor - Debroe Company, Detroit, Michigan
Developer - Crosswinds Communities
City of Detroit - Honorable Kwame M. Kilpatrick, Mayor

**GRALR** · September-20-09, 11:54 AM

coming soon due to economic conditions the unilateral abandonment of Detroit.

Retroit · September-20-09, 11:59 AM

Here's a close-up of the molding on the corner oriel window. I'd imagine those are colored Pewabic tiles.

Retroit · September-20-09, 12:13 PM

Here's a close-up on the bay window crown molding. Not sure what it looked like originally.

**iddude313** · September-20-09, 12:14 PM

They are beautiful tiles but they are not Pewabic.
Although interestingly enough, I do believe Mary Chase Perry Stratton started Pewabic in a horse stable behind the Ransom Gillis house there on Alfred.

Retroit · September-20-09, 12:23 PM

I didn't realize I could upload pictures this big! [[Last time I tried it didn't work.)
Here are more details of the gable and more non-Pewabic tiles.

**Detroitman32** · September-20-09, 12:42 PM

Thanks, although it hasn't been restored, I'm glad they mothballed it. Now only if they took the time to do some more of that; or if some guy bought all these houses and mothballed them, waiting...

**GRALR** · September-20-09, 12:48 PM

we used to buy homes in the quad cities back in the 80's for taxes. We went in, painted them made enough repairs to market them. People bought them, and had the freedom to fix them as they could. The result was very positive as the city stopped tearing them down and the neighborhood stabilized.

I was in the mayors office constantly pressuring him to change his policies. They eventually did and mothballed some homes which later became occupied.

It appears the city is insane with it's occupancy laws, and taxes. If someone wants to take on an old home with minimal finances, a leaky roof and plumbing problems they should be free to do so, and the city should abate taxes for such projects.

If tomorrow the city changed their tax policies, and empowered neighborhoods the city I am convinced would be a mecca for restorationists.

Retroit · September-20-09, 01:22 PM

Now, that's better! I didn't realize that if you download from Paint that you didn't have to crop/resize down to 68.4kb. These pictures are all over 300kb!

**GRALR** · September-20-09, 01:39 PM

I assume the inside is thrashed?

Retroit · September-20-09, 03:24 PM

I'd assume so:

**GRALR** · September-20-09, 04:22 PM

picks mouth off the floor~ Yes I would say so........ And the city is tearing down buildings in much better condition? Now there goes the rest of my hair as I scratch it out!

**EastsideAl** · September-20-09, 11:15 PM

DEMOLISHED BY NEGLECT. 30+ years and counting. We tried, we jumped up and down when those words were painted on so many buildings in this city, but it was like screaming into the wind. When you have a city that nobody gives a damn about, with little or no discernible economy, an urban fabric that the powers-that-be seem hellbent on destroying [[in the ironic interest of "saving" it), and a history that almost no one seems to think is the least bit important, this is what happens. Beautiful things, the likes of which will never be created again, are destroyed for no reason at all - just pure inertia and apathy.

Retroit · September-21-09, 08:08 AM

The area around the house [[seen on the far left) is pretty desolate:

**DetroitZack** · September-21-09, 05:43 PM

Brush Park saddens me with all the empty lots. I would love to see some pictures of the neighborhood back in the day.

**PCE** · September-21-09, 11:03 PM

Thank you for the pictures Retroit. BP has always been one of my favorite parts of
Detroit. I remember the area in the 60's and 70's. It was rough then but there were many more of the old homes standing. I've never understood why we let that area decay. Irreplaceable in my opinion.

**cman710** · September-21-09, 11:20 PM

You might find this site interesting: http://63alfred.com/chapter1.htm

While the website refers to the house as 63 Alfred, it is the Ransom Gillis House. The old address before the address change swas 65, so I am not sure why the website uses 63. Perhaps the website explains, but it is too late for me to figure that out now!

Also, check out this thread from the old Forum, which discusses the house and has some pictures from during and shortly after the mothballing.

**PCE** · September-21-09, 11:46 PM

Great stuff Cman. Thank you.

**EastsideAl** · September-21-09, 11:52 PM

I see that website tells some of the story of the disastrously failed Woodward East project back in the '70s that really started the emptying out and desolation of the area. I remember that a significant portion of Detroit's bicentennial money from the Feds disappeared down that rathole, never to be seen again. We tried to pick up the pieces of that program back when I worked for the city, but for all the cash that had been poured into it, we could never find any money nor anyone who knew what had happened to it, and never saw a definite workable plan.

That's what I meant when I said "30+ years and counting" in my earlier post above.