Patrick Member Username: Patrick
Post Number: 4416 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2007 - 4:25 pm: | |
I have been doing research, yet hit a number of roadblocks on the architect Hans Gehrke. He designed the DFD headquarters and a number of great homes, yet no one knows anything about him. You can Google him, and only come up with several works including Saint John's-Saint Luke Evangelical Church-Local. Ironically, I purchased several vintage House Beautiful ads off of Ebay and one happened to have an article about a residence at 99 Arden Park designed by Hans Gehrke for Robert Traub in 1912. Traub later moved to a mega estate built by WB Stratton at 1250 West Long Lake Road in Bloomfield Hills in 1926. Prior to living at 99 Arden Park, he lived at 61 Erskine. So who was Hans Gehrke and what buildings did he work on? |
The_rock Member Username: The_rock
Post Number: 1749 Registered: 11-2003
| Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 8:44 am: | |
The Hans Gehrke from Grosse Pointe was the former president of the First Federal Savings and Loan and also was a former chairman of the Detroit Board of Commerce. His daughter still lives here. AIW might be able to furnish a few clues on the architect by the same name. |
Patrick Member Username: Patrick
Post Number: 4426 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 9:02 am: | |
I doubt anyone else has any solid information so I actually contacted a family member of his and I am awaiting him to dig up some facts lol. |
7051 Member Username: 7051
Post Number: 32 Registered: 02-2006
| Posted on Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 10:19 pm: | |
Hans designed all of DFD's stations built during the 1920's and 1930's. He also designed a fire station in Royal Oak that's been closed since 1980 (opened briefly in 2002 while other stations were being rebuilt). It is at Webster (12 1/2 Mile and Crooks). It is the best public building in Royal Oak and was paid for by the people of the Shrine church neighborhood as Royal Oak was a sleepy village in the 1920's (its other fire station at that time was a converted commercial building which was a Napa auto parts store until recently (Main and Sixth corner). |