"Exterior Views"

1905 - Biddle Ave View

North View

Detroit architects Malcomson and Higginbotham used buff colored, St. Louis hydraulic pressed brick, red sandstone trim and a slate roof for the exterior. The structure has 5,890 square feet of floor space and occupies four city lots. The original cost of construction was about $27,000.   The Queen Anne style is reflected in the mosaic tiled, wrap-around porch that includes the primary entrance area. The influence is also detectable in the porch pillars, the asymmetrical facades, differing wall textures including wood shingles, stone quoins at the corners and bay windows. A wrought iron fence runs along the south boundary.   The upper portions include gables, dormers, interpenetrating roof planes, overhanging eaves, monumental chimneys, an embedded corner tower and finial lightning rods at the peaks.   Some features have been lost over time. On the east side, a back porch was torn down in 1962 to make way for a library building addition. On the north side, an arched brick carriage port was removed in 1971. On the south side exterior, a wrought iron stairway was removed about 1991. The slate roof was also removed decades ago and replaced with asphalt shingles. There was also a large carriage house on the north side of Vinewood Street where the groundskeeper/chauffeur had an apartment.   In 2004, the house was rewired. In 2007, a passenger elevator was added to the rear of the house.

South View

South west corner from Biddle Ave

View from across Biddle Ave