Burbrook - Now a Fabulous Ruin

[Lowell]

See Also: Burbrook Resotored and Marcus E. Burrowes

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The historic Burbrook estate in Farmington Hills, discussed at length here and designed by famed architect Marcus Burrowes, has fallen into sad disrepair and its fate seems in question as this recent forest walk discovery reveals.



Click Here for Large View

As shown in previous pictures in Burbrook was in the process of being re-roofed. Now it sits abandoned, weed infested and the roofing stalled.



The force of its well pushes out from a leak corroding its pipes and flooding the ground.



And here we have the reason. It appears that the roofing had proceeded without permit.



To the side a diving board extends over a leaf-filled kidney-shaped pool.



This view displays the gracious manor and its rear large lawn.



Click Here for Large View

A small broken window provided this interior view of the left end of the above picture...



...while this dim view through a front window displays a part of the stairway.



Perched on ridge 40 feet above the Upper Rouge River, the three acre plot forms an island of private property inside Farmington Hills' Heritage Park.



Overgrown by vegetation and roof rotted through, Burbrook's separated garage melts into the forest.



Its state of disrepair and location at the end of a winding dirt road make the future of this fascinating mansion very uncertain.

[detroiturbex]

Great pictures. Sad to see a fine building like this fall into disrepair.

[gazhekwe]

It's happened before, still very sad.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

PB Shelley

[gnome]

Mrs. Gnome and I took a drive down Locust Ct maybe a month or so ago; we pulled into the cirlce drive - which is now partially blocked by a downed tree limb - and a pick-up truck pulled in behind us.

It is a bit of a long story, but rest assured, the place is being 'watched'.

Oh, ...btw a speculator from Toronto was behind the new shingles. 'cept he didn't pay the workers who put them on.

[Bearinabox]

It is a bit of a long story...

My favorite kind.

[gnome]

No good solutions to this mess.

To tear it down the road leading to the building is a partially washed out two-track gravel path. Bringing in dumpsters to haul out the debris would require a complete rebuilding of the road, and since it is a private road, all the neighbors would be assessed some pretty big fees before work could begin. Even then who pays the costs for demolition?

If the city owns it now and can manage to sell it for a dollar, whomever buys it would need to pour an easy half million or more to bring it back to a liveable status. Even then you'd get a cement block house on a slab. I'd think that anyone with that kind of money would look somewhere else.

Also, that is not the only abandoned home on that road. There are at least two others - built in the 80's - that are moldering in place.

The neighors must be besides themselves in trying to figure this out. The weirdest thing is that those 80's modern places appear like they were built without any regard to standard building codes. One house in particular actually had a deck built with non-wolmenized [[sp) lumber. Its condition now is a splintered rotting mess. Substandard roof flashing and HandyAndy T-11 siding has leaked and looks like it was installed by Stevie Wonder.

They even installed an in-ground pool by building an 8 foot cinder block wall, putting in a gunite pool and backfilling so the pool is level with the top of the wall. Of course the wall is cracked and leaking and uncovered.

seems the city building department really needs someone looking over their policies.

[carolcb]

I don't understand how someone [[or their family) would let such a beautiful home fall into this shape.

[Lowell]

I think I know the houses of which you speak Gnome but I did not notice any other house that was apparently abandoned on Locust. However the house that was [still is] owned by Detroit techno artist Derrick May appears vacant. A lot of work was done on the property in terms of tree removal so it is more highly sun exposed than any others. I knew the former owner.

Locust Manor, home of Lone Ranger voice Earle Graser, and first house on the road is in superb condition and bowered by giant locust trees.


This appropriately silver historical marker can be found at the entrance to Locust Drive.


As for the house, it does not have nearly the same degree of elegance, inside or out, of the Spicer House, across the valley and now an activities center of Heritage Park. As Gnome mentioned it is blocks on a slab. I speculate that it was intended to be stuccoed and the interior likewise improved, like the Spicer House, but never got done. Being built in the late 20's did the 1929 bust become a factor?










Nonetheless, Burbrook plot is spectacular. Since it is an island within Heritage Park, and should it default to the city, I would not be surprised to see it become merged into the park in some way and possibly returned to nature.

[WaCoTS]

shame.....

[lalynch]

Has anyone notified the Farmington Historical Society about the condition of Burbrook.
Locate a Farmington resident by the name of Brian Golden or call Annette Knowles, Farmington's DDA Director, for assistance. Annette is or was working on a masters in historic preservation at EMU.

[Whitehouse]

I know it's been said before but Lowell, outstanding report!

[East Detroit]

"Business is booming!"

- Funeral Director during the Black Plague

[Jimaz]

It looks like this will end up like the ruins west of the Stony Creek golf course. There's nothing left there but some concrete, a fancy stonework stairway and a tall fence that once surrounded a tennis court. It must have been a beautiful mansion judging by the long driveway lined with stately pines. There's a decorative concrete table centered there like some pagan alter. Very photogenic. We call it Turtle Tail Trail.

Attachment 7658
Turtle Tail Trail

Check out the other Google Maps photos there too.

Admission to Stony Creek is free on November 11, 25 and 26.

[kklemmer]

Somewhat off topic, but for those interested in places like this, that was the Shelden Farm. Take a look at this site. http://shelden-estate.blogspot.com/2...1_archive.html for more information. i used to play in that area when i was a kid.

[Jimaz]

Somewhat off topic, but for those interested in places like this, that was the Shelden Farm. Take a look at this site. http://shelden-estate.blogspot.com/2...1_archive.html for more information. i used to play in that area when i was a kid.

Thank you so much, kklemmer! I am very interested in it. Sometimes search engines just aren't enough.

[wstevens]

I stumbled on this site looking for the address to Burbrook as my grandmother's father is Marcus and she grew up there! It still looms large in the memory of my mom and uncle and they will be so sad to see these pictures. My grandmother passed away a few years ago and we knew then that Burbrook was in a state of disrepair but this would have made her so sad. Does anyone know who might own it now? I would love the chance to go through it before a wrecker does and maybe get a little memento of it's past beauty.

[WaCoTS]

excerpt from Jean M Fox's book about Burrowes:
http://www.farmlib.org/localhist/bpa...07&sequence=13

also see pg 57 of:
http://www.ci.farmington-hills.mi.us...cDistricts.pdf

[Lowell]

Nice links WaCoTS! Thanks.

[WaCoTS]

no problem.

i came across the Jean M Fox book at the Farmington Library as part of my research into the Wayne County Training School, which Burrowes designed. it is really very thin, more like a pamphlet, and hard to find these days, but it is online there.

[sarahboe]

I am not sure how active this thread is, but I think I have something interesting for all of you. My father is an architect and he actually built that house that looks like 'Stevie Wonder" installed the siding, including all the random looking additions that "gnome" stated couldn't be possibly up to code....I also spent many wonderful summers swimming in the pool that my parents installed in approx. 1977. You are correct in that it is level with the house, however it was not backfilled as it appears, although I do concur that the retaining wall is risky at best. That said, when I was a child of 10 yrs old, we became the third owners of Burbrook and moved next door [[purchasing it from the Mills, who bought it from M. Burrows). I had spent an inordinate amount of time at Burbrook even prior to making it my residence as I was all but adopted by the Mills family and know every inch of that house. Coincidentally [[or not) I returned to MI last week for my 40th birthday and through a random set of occurences was taken on a tour through the house. Sadly the photos do not do the condition justice....as it's so much worse. One of the radiators burst last winter and the house has since been consumed floor to ceiling with black mold and absolutely nothing has been done to the house since the very few changes my father had made. I spent as much time in the house as I could without a hazmat suit on trying to gather the memories of almost two decades in the house, but it was physically impossible. The house is now owned by someone who in my opinion should not have it, as he found roofers on Craigslist to replace the roof. Sadly the work was so subpar that it was stopped [[although thankfully) by the city and they have now taken note. I was crushed to walk away from my house last week to see it as it is and hope that all of you will do what you can to bring it around as the historic society has now taken notice. It warms my heart to see such interest in the house from afar and I am sure you can all sympatize to just how badly it pains people like myself who actually lived in and loved the house for many, many years. Some of the best days of my life were lived in that house and I will never forget them.

[drdamour]

I am not sure how active this thread is, but I think I have something interesting for all of you. My father is an architect and he actually built that house that looks like 'Stevie Wonder" installed the siding, including all the random looking additions that "gnome" stated couldn't be possibly up to code.

can you [[or him) fill me in what's the story behind all the very cool architecture of locust street? is your father behind most of them? It looks like a bunch of architects had a contest as to who could build the coolest house back there.

Even then you'd get a cement block house on a slab. I'd think that anyone with that kind of money would look somewhere else.

As for the house, it does not have nearly the same degree of elegance, inside or out, of the Spicer House, across the valley and now an activities center of Heritage Park. As Gnome mentioned it is blocks on a slab. I speculate that it was intended to be stuccoed and the interior likewise improved, like the Spicer House, but never got done. Being built in the late 20's did the 1929 bust become a factor?

i don't know where you two get your information, burbrook is not blocks on a slab. The entire thing has a VERY scary michigan basement. In fact the two oil heated burners are down there that heat the entire radiator system [[which have asbestos coverings in some places still)

I have tons of photos from the inside when it was up for sale @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/drdamour/tags/burbrook/

it does look worse than it used to, i guess they tore out the plaster ceiling in the north-west family room [[the one you called the "left end", the master bath was above it and i expect that's the radiator that the one person was reffering to as busting [[although many were in bad shape. see here here & here [[master bath)

also here's a picture of the north-west family room before they gutted the ceiling http://www.flickr.com/photos/drdamour/4203623909/.

I seriously considered buying this hot mess but the oil heat scared me, i wasn't a fan of radiant heating, and the plaster work [[or drywall if you rip it out which is what this guy is probably doing) was IMMENSE [[4600 sq ft worth). The basement floor is mud under the two family rooms because of that leaky well, which is scary. Dirt would be ok. All the chimneys were trashed.

If they put it up for a 1$ i'll certainly buy it

[Cincinnati_Kid]

No need to bring "Stevie Wonder" into this conversation.

[lalynch]

Finally Farmington's Historic District Commission is getting involved in this house:

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/...t|Farmington|s

[asinben]

I saw the article in the Farmington Observer about the current issues with this fantastic house last week, and my husband and I were eager to check it out. I, too, am an architectural history buff, and growing up in the area, never knew this gem existed! This place is fascinating, and shouldn't be left to ruin at the hands of someone who doesn't care about it's rich history or our community! Drdamour - I'll go in halfsies with you on the dollar purchase, and we can restore it together!! A daunting task, but certainly not something to be rejected! Even a small effort will help in some way!!

[wstevens]

Saw this article on Burbrook which is Marcus' Burrowes house in Farmington. My Grandmother was his daughter and there are many happy memories of this house in our family.

Burrowes home in disrepair; owner faces fines

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/...t|Farmington|s