  Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 5223 Registered: 10-2003 |
This is actually news to me, although it happened two decades ago. GROSSE POINTE TREMBLES AS MANSION IS STRIPPED By ISABEL WILKERSON, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: May 17, 1987 LEAD: There were tremors along the elm-lined lawns of this courtly Detroit suburb this week as collectors, builders and ordinary homeowners dismantled one of the town's stateliest mansions, even stripping its oak floors and bronze door knockers. There were tremors along the elm-lined lawns of this courtly Detroit suburb this week as collectors, builders and ordinary homeowners dismantled one of the town's stateliest mansions, even stripping its oak floors and bronze door knockers. The mansion, a 25-room French Baroque house built in 1913 by Charles A. Platt, a New York architect, was bought about a year ago by Edsel Ford 2d, son of Henry Ford 2d and the crown prince of Detroit's social circuit. Although Mr. Ford planned to move into the mansion, he disliked its ornate appointments. To the dismay of other residents, he decided to auction off virtually everything but the concrete walls. People came in from New York, Atlanta and Texas to bid on the mansion's chandeliers and fireplaces last Saturday. This week they came to retrieve the goods. They pried off shutters, tore out sinks, stripped pantry counters and hauled out a pair of cement ram's-head urns. Passing of Era Feared Continued at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f ullpage.html?res=9B0DE0D71E3CF 934A25756C0A961948260 So what was the deal with this? Did the mansion actually come down? Where was is located in GP? I bet he'd have been pissed if some asshat tried to seel off parts of his grandmother's home. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1153 Registered: 10-2003 |
Not sure if that was the house on Fair Acres that they lived in while he was building his Cap Cod on Lakeshore or if it was on the property that he built on or if he actually rebuilt the house in question to create the present house. In either case, no one around GP is bitching about Edsel, his rather stately house, the taxes that he contributes to the GPF coffers or the work that he did heading Detroit 300. Give us a few dozen more of him any day! | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5867 Registered: 08-2004 |
Well I have to disagree... Edsel II's grandmother Eleanor Ford made sure that her estate did not meet the fate of Anna Thompson Dodge's Rose Terrace estate. But unfortunately her descendents were rather less charitable to their Grosse Pointe residences... Her son Henry II owned and lived in the magnificent Georgian style Roy Chapin house on Lakeshore at Provencial. But when he married Katherine DuRoss (his 3rd wife), the Chapin house was no longer their home. But instead of selling it outright, he razed it, and today we have an entire subdivision of rather bland Tudor condo's along that stretch of Lakeshore. And then there's Elena Ford, Eleanor Ford's great granddaughter. She bought her great aunts (Josephine Ford) home on Provencial. And (one of the excuses for tearing it down was supposedly mold) that house was not to her tastes either... so down it came. And of course there's Eleanor's grandson Edsel II. He gutted the magnificent mansion on Lakeshore to rebuild it as the Cape Cod house we see today. So 3 historic Grosse Pointe houses were torn down or gutted, and 1 historic house was saved. Maybe a few dozen more Fords is what Detroit could use... but certainly not the Grosse Pointes!  | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 7230 Registered: 10-2003 |
What is your bitch? I replaced the linoleum in my back hallway with tile, and you'll probably never see it either. It's his PRIVATE home, it is up to him (or his wife) to decide what works for them. | ||
Mwilbert Member Username: Mwilbert Post Number: 31 Registered: 11-2007 |
And if you buy a Van Gogh or a Rembrandt, you can burn it, but you shouldn't be surprised if you get some criticism. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1307 Registered: 12-2005 |
 Grosse Pointe News front page headline, May 14, 1987 Read the entire article (PDF file)  A follow-up article appeared in the May 21st issue of the Grosse Pointe News that mentions the NY Times article. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5868 Registered: 08-2004 |
I'm not so much bitching about the Fords as I am in Grosse Pointe in general. I remember (as a kid) going down Lakeshore Dr. in the 60's... and seeing the Chapin, the MacAuley and the Glancy estates, and of course Rose Terrace. These were massive palaces facing the water... now long gone... | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 747 Registered: 07-2007 |
Yeah but Elena & hubby made 9 million or something by selling the weathervane's on the house and a bunch of other stuff., who can blame em. That would pay for a nice new home. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5873 Registered: 08-2004 |
Lefty, I do believe that the estate sale happened first ($5.8 million on the weathervane alone) before they bought the house from the estate. So Elena and hubby didn't get that big chunk of change. |
