Our 18th Annual Mount Clemens Historical Homes Tour, held on Saturday, October 8th, was a great success. We are so grateful to the homeowners who opened their homes for the tour this year. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a great time. Here are some brief highlights of a few sites that were on this year's tour.
This beautiful English Tudor style home, built in 1930, features classic architectural elements including brick, stucco, cedar shake siding, half timbering, diamond leaded glass windows and an arch-top front entry door. It was built in the early days of the Great Depression by Charles B. Hoffman, a long-time bath attendant during the mineral bath era for which Mount Clemens is famous. Tom and Natalie, the current homeowners, purchased this home in 2005. The first floor features original details including oak hardwood floors, a mosaic tile entry, textured walls, coved plaster ceilings with picture moldings, leaded glass windows and doors, a fireplace with mosaic tile and many period light fixtures throughout. A favorite room with great light is the study located in the front of the home, beneath the “cat slide” roof. The recently remodeled kitchen retains the character of 1930s era cabinetry, hardware, lighting, subway tile and a classic breakfast nook. The oak floor incorporates a border of various woods.
The second floor includes a very large master bedroom with refinished oak floors and large French- style leaded glass windows. The main bathroom features original green subway tile, hexagonal floor tile, vintage lighting and a cast iron tub with J.L. Mott fixtures. Natalie, an avid gardener, has renovated and redesigned the exterior landscaping. A major distinguishing feature of the home is the continued use of the striped canvas awnings that have been a fixture on this house since the late 1930s. Tom and Natalie look forward to many more years of preserving a home that their family loves.
Next was a modest bungalow-style house built between 1927 and 1930 by Thomas Babcock and his wife, Elvia. Babcock was a Mount Clemens high school teacher. The front door of this attractive small white house features leaded glass created by a local craftsman and decorated with colorful poppies. Six rooms on the main floor include a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath. The kitchen features subway tile and the cupboards are replacements that reflect the period of the house. The bathroom has white subway tile and replacement fixtures except for the original bathtub. An attic includes two small bedrooms and a bath. A succession of owners in the 1990s, attempting modernization, left the home in poor condition. When Dave, the current owner, purchased it from HUD in 2008 the house was stripped of moldings and doors, the porch was in danger of collapse and there were holes in the roof. The structure was basically sound, however, and Dave has restored the original windows and decorated throughout. Missing doors and hardware were replaced with period acquisitions from the Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit. The present owner who is retired, lives here with his rescue dog Diesel. He has had little experience in restoration, but he is dedicated to preserving the history of the site through re-cycling and re-purposing. He encourages other senior citizens to do likewise – to update, restore and make their older homes useful.
Another impressive site on this year's tour was the Mount Clemens High School. Mount Clemens became famous in 1924 when this “Million Dollar” high school was built. There had been a high school in Mount Clemens ever since 1859 when the Union School was erected. In 1902 it was converted to the exclusive use of the high school. By 1921-22 however, the building was inadequate for the needs of a modern high school education and so over-crowded that a campaign was undertaken to build a new high school. The community responded wholeheartedly and the issue passed with a vote of four to one. Superintendent L. Wade Fast was in charge of drawing up an outline of requirements for a new high school and the architectural firm of Joseph C. Llewellyn Company was chosen to build it. The new building was a testimony to the faith of the citizens of this small city in the future of its young people. It was proudly acclaimed for having 99 rooms, a swimming pool, an auditorium, two gymnasiums, the only indoor track outside of Detroit, a biology lab, vocational training equipment and other modern features.
This large impressive, three-story building made of light-colored brick faces Cass Avenue. A broad stairway rises from the street to the main entrance and from there to the magnificent auditorium. Designed to seat over 1400, it includes a balcony, a large stage, an orchestra pit and equipment for performances of all kinds. Nearby there is a community room finished in oak paneling with a small stage at one end and a fireplace at the other. In addition to office space and classrooms, the building included a girls’ gymnasium and a boys’ gymnasium with a running track suspended overhead. There were laboratories, a library, a cafeteria, a typing room, domestic science classrooms, a laundry, a swimming pool with showers, auto mechanics and woodworking shops and a printing plant. In 1967 additions were completed that connect with the original building and provide space and equipment for the ever-increasing demands of a modern education. The citizens of Mount Clemens continue to look forward and invest in the future of their young people.
Look forward to the remaining houses that will be highlighted in our next month's edition of Historically Speaking on-line.
