  Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1159 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 198.208.159.17 |
all I know is that they were supposedly built for a detroit architect's six daughters to live in....anyone know more? http://tinyurl.com/rd6vc | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 3487 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.248.81.155 |
They are for rent, contact Cheryl Huff. The porch trim was being painted this week. | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 6289 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 208.27.111.125 |
I was told that the row on Saint Paul at Van Dyke was built for the six daughters. I don't have any way of verifying it, tho. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 613 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.7 |
Because of the arrangement of streets in the area, Shipherd Street is fronted by the backs of garages on the west side of the street and fronted by modest victorian homes on the east side of the street (a very strange alley and street arrangement). When Shipherd Court was built just north of Lafayette in 1912, the developer didn't want to build the large homes to face the backs of garages. So instead the houses were built to face a courtyard. I think it's one of the earliest examples of houses being built to face a courtyard instead of the street. Shipherd Court is often noted as an important historical feature of the neighborhood. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 3489 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.248.81.155 |
Dabirch??? | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 614 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.7 |
Yeah Jams, I think we're missing a member of the West Village Club. | ||
Merchantgander Member Username: Merchantgander Post Number: 1991 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 150.198.150.244 |
What does Dabirch know? His negative attitude can really bring down a thread. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 1849 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 69.221.37.93 |
This area is one of our mostly-intact urban neighborhoods. Good density too, although it is often filled with 20th century townhouses and 3-story apartments where other cities would have full-blown rowhouses in these scenarios. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 3491 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.248.81.155 |
But in an uplifting way. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 615 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.7 |
Wow Mackinaw thanks for preaching to the choir! So Detroit is different from other cities. Is that so bad? | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1160 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 198.208.159.17 |
thanks for the info, a friend is buying a home in the area and as we walked past it, it piqued my interest. another friend of ours along with us wondered if the afformentioned architect was "wilke" (sp?), I had never heard of him before.. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 1851 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 69.221.37.93 |
No problem at all, ESD...its a well known fact that things like rowhouses are few and far between east of the Appalachians. I was just identifying that WV is this city's version of an (originally) upscale, mixed use, mid-density neighborhood. (Message edited by mackinaw on July 07, 2006) | ||
Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 290 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 68.60.139.212 |
Gravitymachine,
Perhaps you mean Leonard Willeke. He designed a number of prominent houses in Indian Village, Palmer Woods, Boston-Edison, as well as a great many in Grosse Pointe. He designed and built own home on Moss in Highland Park. The definitive book on Willeke, Leonard B. Willeke, Excellence in Architecture and Design was written in 1989 by Indian Village resident and Willeke expert, Tom Brunk. He makes no reference to Shipherd Court in the book. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 1854 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 69.221.37.93 |
Have not heard of that book, I'll have to look for it. Willeke designed some cool stuff, with a few early hints at modernism I believe in some designs. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 616 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.7 |
Yes it's true about the rowhouses Mackinaw. My wife who's from the east coast points that out a lot. But don't you mean WEST of the Appalachians? Oh, and I wouldn't say that WV was originally exclusively upscale. It was mixed income from the beginning with lots of apartments, flats and workers cottages mixed in witht the mansions and fine apartment buildings. (Message edited by eastsidedog on July 07, 2006) | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1295 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 63.157.236.249 |
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Neilr Member Username: Neilr Post Number: 291 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 68.60.139.212 |
Hornwreaker, thanks for the site plan. I'v always found it be curious the way the houses are sited on the property. The side doors do not open to that unit's side yard; but rather to just a walkway and the neighbor's side-yard. To get to your side yard, you have to walk to the other side of the house. Does anyone know the ownership and governance of Shipherd Court currently? Perhaps a condo set-up with strict exterior controls could unify the community. Individually each is small and ok; but the real charm of the street comes from the sum of the whole. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 1856 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 69.221.37.93 |
Very interesting layout there, thanks HW. ESD, defintly west of the Appalachians indeed. | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1299 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 63.157.75.63 |
I looked at the 1910 map, and the only difference besides a few empty lots, and E Lafayette being called Champlain, was that there was no center drive for Shiperd Ct., just grass and the alley was enlarged a bit. Any photos of the houses? I must have ridden the Van Dyke/Lafayette DSR bus hundreds of times by there and never knew this existed. | ||
Broken_main Member Username: Broken_main Post Number: 1145 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.222.11.226 |
Hmmm...Cheryl Huff...Is she still in that area? She was my first landlord ever. She must own the whole friggin neighborhood by now | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 6299 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.136.149.133 |
I keep a clove of garlic tied to my front door. That keeps her away from my house. | ||
Broken_main Member Username: Broken_main Post Number: 1148 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.222.11.226 |
Oh my God!!! That is tooo funny. Not trying to bash her or anything but we had the worst experience with her. We had a mouse in our house that was gnawing away at our garbage can for months in our kitchen. I put a trap in the kitchen and heard it snap that night. I went to throw the trap away and found it in a corner near the stove. I thought my roommate was playing jokes with me. We let Cheryl know that there was a mouse in the house. She had this attitude like.."well kill it" Seeing how this little critter was there when we moved in, we strongly felt that this was her problem. I week later, I was cooking dinner and entertaining guests and the mouse came out and ran across my foot. This "mouse" must have been all of 8 pounds and was the biggest rat I have ever seen. He climb the refrigerator and scaled the wall back to the hole in the corner. Needless to say, we left the house that month and never came back. She ended up keeping my brand new stove and refrigerator as collateral because we left without giving notice. Let me go pull out my silver bullet and wooden stakes just in case I run across her. | ||
Bob_cosgrove Member Username: Bob_cosgrove Post Number: 348 Registered: 03-2005 Posted From: 75.10.5.201 |
Dr Brunk's book on Leonard Willeke was published by the University of Detroit, who may still have a few copies. Bob Cosgrove | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 620 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.20.140.8 |
LMAO! Yeah, lots of people in the neighborhood don't like her. But from what I've heard she's rehabbed tons of houses in the neighborhood - her and her husband started buying them in the 70's - and West Village is way better off because of her. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 621 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 68.20.140.8 |
Shipherd Court in all its glory  This one has been beautifully restored in the last few months  This is the south alley that runs behind Shipherd Court (parellel with Lafayette)  Love the privet hedge in front of these houses. I've heard that the son of someone who used to live there comes by and trims the hedge religiously.  Same houses from the opposite direction. Notice the garages on the right.  Some townhouses at Shipherd and St. Paul.  (Message edited by eastsidedog on July 10, 2006) | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 292 Registered: 11-2005 Posted From: 4.229.45.130 |
Thanks for the pics ESDog. That court is cool. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 623 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 69.218.157.116 |
You're welcome Pam.  | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1305 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 66.19.24.185 |
Eastsidedog, I concur with the thanks. It is nice to see in pseudo-reality, what I've come to know by looking at those old fire insurance maps. The current lawn strip down the middle is how it was drawn in the 1910 map, but the 1915 had it being as a drive. I imagine that it was impractical as cars got larger in the 1930s. (I was wondering how my Jeep got to St. Paul without me.) | ||
Hysteria Member Username: Hysteria Post Number: 744 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 205.188.116.137 |
Great pics, Eastsidedog. I am assuming that these are pictures of the workers cottages you mentioned? Reminds me of several old neighborhoods where I live. | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 624 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.8 |
Yes, Hysteria. There more small victorian houses like these on Van Dyke as well. The eclecticism of West Village is one of the things that make it such an interesting and diverse neighborhood. There are 3000+ sq. ft. homes that are immaculately restored just a block away from t hese "worker cottages." So how does one define a worker cottage anyways? These "vickies" are small but not as small as some of the houses in Corktown. | ||
Hysteria Member Username: Hysteria Post Number: 759 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 216.223.168.132 |
Eastsidedog, you mentioned worker cottages in one of your posts above. Here is what I would consider a typical workers cottage/home: http://www.centerforhistory.or g/workers_home.html There are several streets lined with old homes like this where I live. I would have cut and pasted the picture, but I am at work! | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 625 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.8 |
These small homes in WV are definitely a bit larger (maybe 1200-1400 sq. feet?). My guess is they may have been middle class homes (during a time when their was less of a middle class). I think working class folks in Detroit tended to live in tenements during this time (1895-1920) rather than single family homes. This long before the post-WWII boom. Most of the city fell within Grand Blvd. during this time with a population of several hundred thousand. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. (Message edited by eastsidedog on July 11, 2006) | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1168 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 198.208.159.18 |
thanks for the pics and the additional info! | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 627 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.8 |
You're welcome Gravitymachine!
I don't know why or how it could be a drive for vehicle traffic. The alleys on either side of the court allow the owners to receive deliveries (although it seems these homes in particular had zero private parking - only street parking - how quaint in the motor city!). The alleys like all the alleys in the neighborhood are two lanes wide to allow for two way traffic although nowadays many of the alleys in WV are overgrown and reduced to one lane. | ||
Sknutson Member Username: Sknutson Post Number: 627 Registered: 03-2004 Posted From: 67.114.23.202 |
Anyone want to buy those townhouses? http://www.realestateone.com/c ontent/PropertyDetail.asp?list ingNumber=e26056875 | ||
Eastsidedog Member Username: Eastsidedog Post Number: 631 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 12.47.224.7 |
WV "Top rental market?" "Little Chicago?" Hmm. Never heard that one before. Ahh marketing... |
