McMansion-type home on Belvidere near E. Vernor...

[Al Publican]

I took a ride through the much vacated eastside between the Jeep Chrysler plant and Indian Village and was surprised to come up on new looking home on Belvidere just north of E. Vernor. This is a new looking home with brownish brick veneer exterior that has something of a mini McMansion look about it. Next door is a well kept up home with white wood siding. The rest of the area is either vacant lots or vacant homes.

Curious who would have chosen to build a new single home in such a vacant looking neighborhood. I'm wondering if a church built the home for its pastor to reside in or if maybe some urban pioneer-type chose that site. Take a look sometime and see what you think.

[bartock]

I took a ride through the much vacated eastside between the Jeep Chrysler plant and Indian Village and was surprised to come up on new looking home on Belvidere just north of E. Vernor. This is a new looking home with brownish brick veneer exterior that has something of a mini McMansion look about it. Next door is a well kept up home with white wood siding. The rest of the area is either vacant lots or vacant homes.

Curious who would have chosen to build a new single home in such a vacant looking neighborhood. I'm wondering if a church built the home for its pastor to reside in or if maybe some urban pioneer-type chose that site. Take a look sometime and see what you think.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,83.63,,0,5.11

I thought I had woven my way down most of those sides streets going to and from work at some point, but I had not seen this. That is not a good area and not surrounded by good areas...perhaps a pastor. Very interesting.

[cman710]

I've noticed a similar phenomenon here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=10861+...qSyNbntybgo8jQ

[mikefmich]

If I was 25 yrs younger without kids/parents, I would do that.....or re-hab an older gem. I've always loved Rotty's too so they would fit right in with me there.

[313WX]

Same thing's happening in the 7 Mile/Hayes area [[on Eastwood or Fordham somewhere east of Chalmers)

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

How many lots is that house on Belvidere on? Must be several. It certainly is landscaped nicely.

The house next door makes me sad to think of how nice the entire city really could still be if things had not progressed the way they have.

[Goose]

Public records show it to be built in 2004, about 1800 sq. ft., and owners last name of Dye.

[5speedz34]

That place looks huge for only 1800 sq. ft.! Maybe because it's a ranch? I guess it's cool that someone choose to build a new house there and preserve the neighborhood to some extent but holy shit talk about not fitting in at all with rest of the neighborhood. In-fill housing on steroids. It just doesn't mesh at all.

[Goose]

my best guess, is that the person living there once had an older house there that was fully insured, and it burned down, and they had the insurance company build her a new one....

[JBMcB]

1800 ft^2? Not exactly "McMansion" territory. And, while it looks a lot larger than the surrounding homes in Google maps, it has an attached garage. If you bolt on a garage to one of the other homes it's not *that* much larger. Especially if it's a ranch, the rest of the homes are two story.

It's not an architectural gem, but neither are the other houses in the area by the looks of things. If it was built on vacant land [[by the looks of the area that's a definite possibility) I think it's great that, at least, something was put there.

[5speedz34]

Good point on the garage! I forgot how garages make houses look 10x bigger.

[One Shot]

Looks gated too. How the hell were they able to get a wall raised without materials being stolen??? Honestly had to have a guard or materials arriving as they were needed.

[softailrider]

my best guess, is that the person living there once had an older house there that was fully insured, and it burned down, and they had the insurance company build her a new one....

I think that's a really good possibility. Just guessing, but, maybe their policy required them to rebuild on site.

[bartock]

It had to drive by it on my way home last night. Saw an elderly woman rolling out the garbage. She looked at me as if to say "somebody told you about this house today and you decided to drive by, didn't you?" At least that's what I thought. BTW, it has a porch in the back. It was sort of hard to see, but the house does not look like it is very deep.

This is one of the more interesting areas of the East Side "Prarie." This shot doesn't really do the desolation justice, but this is a couple of blocks west of Belvidere, on what I've always thought of as the "spooky bend" of E. Vernor. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...45.98,,0,14.23

In that area, Vernor is one-way, three lanes going east. Charlevoix, the next major street to the north, is one-way, three lanes going west. Less than two blocks from that house is one of my favorite lots that I pass from time to time if I take Charlevoix in the morning [[there is a modest house that goes with all of the well-kept land).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...2,295.49,,0,-4

In the block and a half between those two properties, there is hardly anything. 4-5 more lots taken care of like those, and that area would start to look nice [[and "exurban").

[Danny]

In some Detroit ghettohoods you will find some strange and wonderful houses from Heidelberg St. to Five Points. There's one house I stumble upon while I did a neighborhood evaulation at the Plymouth Rd and Greenfield Rd area. [[My old hood). The Log Cabin of St. Marys Street, 2nd block north of Plymouth Rd.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=4...7.77,,0,-19.91

[missn]

OK, what makes that bend in E. Vernor spooky?

[bartock]

It's spooky like an old attic. I don't know you, so pardon me if you already know this, but when heading out of downtown on Gratiot, E. Vernor splits off into relatively dense neighborhood basically until you pass Indian Village. Then, you get that. The fact that it was three lanes going one way at some point tells you about what the density of that area used to be. Now, empty. That house you see in the shot on the north side of the street sticks out immensly, especially at dusk or at night because among all of the old sidewalks and streelights, from a certain viewpoint it seems to be the only active property "left" among enough nature to make one think they are in a tiny little town.

In a more cheesy way, it feels a bit like a corridor through the ghosts of all that used to be, particularly as it ends at the Chrysler plant. It's spooky.

[SWMAP]

Bartock wrote "it feels a bit like a corridor through the ghosts of all that used to be..."

Last month Michael Happy blogged in the Detroit News about returning to the church of his childhood on the east side of Detroit [[ now hosting Shield of Faith Church):

So we walked -- me, Imogene and my eldest son, Louis -- and I found a peace I haven't felt in a long time. The combination of the company, conversation and the ghosts -- being in the place where my parents were married, where I was baptized and made my first communion, where my grandparents and other relatives often sat in their Sunday best, where some of them were sent home to God from -- almost brought me to tears.':

I admit to sometimes having the same impression- there are ghosts of old Detroit all around. Maybe they want something!

[canuck]

In some Detroit ghettohoods you will find some strange and wonderful houses from Heidelberg St. to Five Points. There's one house I stumble upon while I did a neighborhood evaulation at the Plymouth Rd and Greenfield Rd area. [[My old hood). The Log Cabin of St. Marys Street, 2nd block north of Plymouth Rd.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=4...7.77,,0,-19.91

Yeah Danny, it's a sweet house.

[hybridy]

my best guess, is that the person living there once had an older house there that was fully insured, and it burned down, and they had the insurance company build her a new one....

my guess, the friendly neighborhood dealer who cashed out and built a new house in mom/grandma's name

[5speedz34]

How bombed out would you guys consider this part of the East Side is? I live one block east of the Boulevard between Vernor and Charlevoix. Call me an idealist but I wouldn't consider it real prairie-like until after the Chrysler plant.

[bartock]

Bombed out is not prarie, prarie is better. but I think it is prarie before the plant. I think it starts a few blocks east of Indian Village. It is even more prarie on the other side, I agree.

[cman710]

Looks gated too. How the hell were they able to get a wall raised without materials being stolen??? Honestly had to have a guard or materials arriving as they were needed.

I don't have time to post the image now, but the 1997 aerial image shows that the lot was empty at least then. At some point when I have time, I'll look at the older photographs. I would be surprised if there was not a house or houses where that property is in the 1950s or 1960s.

[Scottathew]

Welcome to one of the opportunities of the new Detroit. Old Detroit had houses sandwiched together. New Detroit lets investors buy multiple lots and build a beautiful home on a large lot just like this one.

[Al Publican]

Thanks for the responses, crew. [[May I call you "crew"?) I will see if this house is viewable on Viewofhouse.com Check this site out to see photos of homes and neighborhoods throughout the country.

I was going to say "quasi-McMansion" but I wanted to give that nieghborhood a boost.