The William Livingstone House, commonly called Slumpy, was a house constructed in 1894 [1] and located in the Brush Park district of Detroit, Michigan. The home was architect Albert Kahn's first independent project. [2]
The William Livingstone House, commonly called Slumpy, was a house constructed in 1894 [1] and located in the Brush Park district of Detroit, Michigan. The home was architect Albert Kahn's first independent project. [2]
William Livingstone Jr. (1844–1925), publisher of the Detroit Evening Journal , [3] was the second president of the Dime Savings Bank. [4] He hired a young Kahn, who was working for the architectural firm of Mason & Rice, to design his residence at 76 Eliot Street. When he obtained this commission – presumably with Mason's help – Kahn was only 22 or 23 years old and had just returned from spending 1891 in Europe, studying the classical architecture of the Old World: his decision to design the home in the French Renaissance Revival style reflected the time he spent sketching the best Gallic architecture. [5] For the house, Kahn incorporated elements of the French châteauesque style, such as bays and cone shaped turrets. [6]
In 1987, the Red Cross intended to demolish the mansion, originally located west of John R. Street, to make way for their new building. [7] Preservationists succeeded in moving the Livingstone House about one block to the east to 284 Eliot Street, [8] but the building languished for many years. The William Livingstone House's subsequent blight and slumping circular tower earned it the nickname Slumpy among the ruins photography community. [2] The building continued to decay to the point of collapse [9] and was completely demolished on September 15, 2007. The William Livingstone House was commemorated in a painting by Lowell Boileau entitled Open House, which was unveiled the day of its demolition. [10]
The cover of the 2019 studio album Hiding Places by Billy Woods and Kenny Segal is a photograph of the William Livingstone House taken in 2006 by photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. [11]
Frank Heyling Furness was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often inordinately scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago-based architect Louis Sullivan. Furness also received a Medal of Honor for bravery during the Civil War.
Albert Kahn was an American architect noted for his collaborations with his brother Julius Kahn in designing industrial plant complexes such as the Ford River Rouge automobile complex. Based in Detroit, he also designed skyscrapers, office buildings, and mansions in the city and suburbs, as well as many buildings at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Kahn has been called the "architect of Detroit" as the designer of nearly 900 buildings in the city.
Grosse Pointe refers to an affluent coastal area next to Detroit, Michigan, United States, that comprises five adjacent individual cities. From southwest to northeast, they are:
Cadillac Place, formerly the General Motors Building, is a landmark high-rise office complex located at 3044 West Grand Boulevard, in the New Center area alongside the Detroit River, of downtown Detroit, Michigan, in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States.
Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian (1958) is a church located in Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
The Brush Park Historic District is a neighborhood located in Detroit, Michigan. It is bounded by Mack Avenue on the north, Woodward Avenue on the west, Beaubien Street on the east, and the Fisher Freeway on the south. The Woodward East Historic District, a smaller historic district completely encompassed by the larger Brush Park neighborhood, is located on Alfred, Edmund, and Watson Streets, from Brush Street to John R. Street, and is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
The Detroit Masonic Temple is the world's largest Masonic Temple. Located in the Cass Corridor neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Street, the building serves as a home to various masonic organizations including the York Rite Sovereign College of North America. The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.
The architecture of metropolitan Detroit continues to attract the attention of architects and preservationists alike. With one of the world's recognizable skylines, Detroit's waterfront panorama shows a variety of architectural styles. The post-modern neogothic spires of One Detroit Center refer to designs of the city's historic Art Deco skyscrapers. Together with the Renaissance Center, they form the city's distinctive skyline.
The Albert Kahn House is in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Brush Park district. It is currently the headquarters of the Detroit Urban League. The house was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1971 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The New Amsterdam Historic District is a historic district located in Detroit, Michigan. Buildings in this district are on or near three sequential east-west streets on the two blocks between Woodward Avenue and Second Avenue. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The Albert Kahn Building, formerly New Center Building, is an office building located at 7430 Second Avenue in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan completed in 1931. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Capitol Park Historic District is a historic district located in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is roughly bounded by Grand River, Woodward and Michigan Avenues, and Washington Boulevard. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The Randolph Street Commercial Buildings Historic District is a historic district located in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, which includes six buildings along Randolph Street between Monroe and Macomb streets. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The collection of buildings are a rare surviving set of Detroit Victorian-era commercial structures. The Randolph Street Commercial Building Historic District joins the Broadway Avenue Historic District downtown.
The Elisha Taylor House is a historic private house located at 59 Alfred Street in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Brush Park district. The house was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Since 1981, it has served as a center for art and architectural study, known as the Art House.
Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert was an American architect of the late-19th and early-20th centuries best known for designing townhouses and mansions.
The East Jefferson Avenue Residential District in Detroit, Michigan, includes the Thematic Resource (TR) in the multiple property submission to the National Register of Historic Places which was approved on October 9, 1985. The structures are single-family and multiple-unit residential buildings with construction dates spanning nearly a century, from 1835 to 1931. The area is located on the lower east side of the city.
The Detroit Financial District is a United States historic district in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The district was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 14, 2009, and was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of December 24, 2009.
The Russell Industrial Center is an industrial factory turned to commercial complex of studios and shops that is located at 1600 Clay Street in Detroit, Michigan. The Russell Industrial Center is a 2,200,000-square-foot (200,000 m2), seven building complex, designed by Albert Kahn for John William Murray in 1915. It contains studios and lofts and serves as a professional center for commercial and creative arts.
Henry T. Brush was an American architect who practiced in Detroit, Michigan in the latter part of the 19th century. Brush was born in Detroit, the son of Amanda Brush. Henry's father was from Canada and died by the time he was 11. Amanda remarried William Cicero Grant, who was instrumental in the early education of Henry and his older brother James. William was a mathematical instrument maker.
George DeWitt Mason was an American architect who practiced in Detroit, Michigan, in the latter part of the 19th and early decades of the 20th centuries.
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