63 Alfred Street, where Capitalism Failed: The Life and Times of a Venetian Gothic Mansion in Downtown DetroitIn downtown Detroit there exists a grand residence built in the Venetian Gothic style some 130 years ago. It stands now in ruins seemingly more comfortable in the company of a lonely castle in the Scottish Highlands than in the shadow of Ford Field (Detroit Lions), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), and Joe Louis Arena (Detroit Red Wings). Though its only occupants for the last 40 years have been crack dealers and the local homeless population, its history reflects the length and breadth of the American Experience. This is its Story |
Contents
Ruins ___________________________________________ 1
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Blue Bloods Blood Lines _______________________ 29
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Rooming House Restaurant_____________________ 57
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The Essas_______________________________________ 63
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The Hydra _____________________________________ 115
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Common terms and phrases
1920 US Census 63 Alfred Street Adana Alanson American architect Architecture Armenians auto Baptist blue book brick brothers Brush Park building business firms Census century Chaldeans churches City of Detroit city’s Comerica Park corner of John County Wayne Courtesy of Louise Daughter F Descendants of Norman Detroit blue Detroit Free Press Detroit Metro area District Douglas Kuykendall E-mail to John Edith Family Archivist Fikes Fox family free silver George Gillis Home Head Henry Henry’s HeritageQuest Online History http://persi.heritagequestonline.com http://www.heritagequestonline.com/prod/genealogy/fullcitation?docID=Genealo Ibid J.W. Weeks John Kossik July land living Lodger F Louise Barker Manistique Mary Mason Meeting Minutes moved neighborhood Norman Fox original Ottoman Empire owners Painted Post Pewabic Pottery population prior purchased Ransom Gillis House residents Reuther Library roof rooming house Seattle Society speech storefront structure suburbs tax burden Tel Kaif tion Trenton troit turret Wayne State University Wife F Wikipedia William Woodmere Cemetery Woodward East Project York