19-761: The Charles Lang Freer House is located at 71 East Ferry Avenue in Detroit , Michigan , USA. The house was originally built for the industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer , whose gift of the Freer Gallery of Art began the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC . The structure currently hosts the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute of Child & Family Development of Wayne State University . It
38-607: A Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 1856, the Ferry Seed Company was founded in Detroit; the company established a large farm at the corner of East Ferry and Woodward to grow the seeds that were sold nationwide. In the mid-1880s, then-owner D. M. Ferry platted the farm into residential lots along East Ferry Avenue. At the time Woodward
57-626: A number of professionals and business people found they could purchase homes on East Ferry. The Omega Psi Phi fraternity and the Lewis College of Business still remain on East Ferry. After World War II, the Merrill Palmer Institute (housed in the Charles Lang Freer House ) purchased several homes along East Ferry, hoping to expand their operations. However, Merrill Palmer was unable to expand and in
76-635: A school centering on home and family development. In 1923, the Institute purchased the house, and have remained there since. In 1980, this Institute (currently Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute) was incorporated into Wayne State University . The Institute runs the Early Childhood Center, a preschool for area children age 2 1/2 to 5, and has a research faculty of 12 studying children from infancy to adulthood. East Ferry Avenue Historic District The East Ferry Avenue Historic District
95-428: A triangular gable and various dormers interrupt the roofline. Chimneys dominate the east and west ends of the home, underneath which are porches. These porches were originally open-air, but are currently closed stucco . On the interior, Eyre designed the home with Freer's art collection in mind. (This collection is now in the Smithsonian Institution 's Freer Gallery of Art .) There are 22 rooms and 12 fireplaces in
114-467: Is a historic residential district in Midtown Detroit , Michigan . The nationally designated historic district stretches two blocks from Woodward Avenue east to Brush Street; the locally designated historic district includes a third block between Brush and Beaubien. The district includes the separately designated Col. Frank J. Hecker House and the Charles Lang Freer House . It was designated
133-619: The Peninsular Car Company ; Charles Lang Freer , Hecker's partner and noted art collector; William A. Pungs, founder of the Anderson Carriage Company; Herman Roehm, co-owner of Roehm and Weston hardware store; John Scott, a prominent architect; and Samuel A. Sloman, of M. Sloman & Co. furrier. Woodward Avenue since redeveloped into primarily commercial property, but a group of mansions and upscale housing on East Ferry survives. Around World War I ,
152-703: The railroad -car manufacturing business. Hecker was from Detroit , Michigan. Frank J. Hecker was born in Freedom, Michigan (in Washtenaw County ) on July 6, 1846. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1859, where Frank was educated. During the American Civil War , he joined the Union Army in 1864, and was appointed first sergeant . After the conclusion of the Civil War, he
171-639: The Peninsular Car Works, which in 1884 was renamed into the Peninsular Car Company . Hecker was president of both companies, and business made both Hecker and Freer wealthy. Hecker also was on boards of the Detroit Copper and Brass Rolling Mills, Michigan Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and the Detroit Lumber Company. Hecker was appointed Police Commissioner in 1888. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1892, and
190-408: The best current examples of residential commissions from Detroit's leading 19th century architects, including John Scott, Louis Kamper , Malcomson and Higginbotham , Rogers and McFarlane, Mortimer Smith, Donaldson and Meier , Joseph E. Mills, A. E. Harley, and Smith, Hinchman & Grylls . Frank J. Hecker Frank Joseph Hecker (July 6, 1846 – June 26, 1927) was an American businessman in
209-504: The construction of the Col. Frank J. Hecker House , located on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. The mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places . Charles Lang Freer 's home is next door. In 1868, Hecker married Anna M. Williamson of Omaha, Nebraska . The couple had five children: Frank Clarence, Anna Cynthia, Louise May, Christian Henry, and Grace Clara. Frank Hecker died from heart failure at his home in Detroit on June 26, 1927, and
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#1732790208058228-449: The designs of the 19th century homes already there. Houses on East Ferry are built close together on small lots, set back from the street. Many of the matching carriage houses still exist. In general, the neighborhood consists primarily of Queen Anne homes, built of brick and sandstone, with bay windows or turrets and wide front porches. There are some Romanesque Revival , and Colonial Revival designs. Homes on East Ferry are some of
247-440: The house, as well as an elevator, and numerous balconies, bay windows, enclosed porches, and skylights. In 1906, Eyre designed an art gallery, added above the stable. In 1904, Frederick Leyland 's widow sold Freer The Peacock Room , designed by James Whistler , and Freer had Eyre design another room in the carriage house in which to install it. In 1916, Lizzie Pitts Merrill Palmer left a bequest of three million dollars to found
266-503: The late 1960s sold the homes to the Detroit Institute of Arts for their proposed expansion. The DIA eventually realized the property on East Ferry would not be useful to them, and re-sold them in the mid-1990s. Four of these homes were turned into The Inn on Ferry Street, a successful bed and breakfast , others are now residential. Recently, new homes have been constructed in the neighborhood, architecturally congruent with
285-406: The wealthy. Desiring a similar home, in 1890 Freer contracted with Wilson Eyre to design a home in Detroit. The house, on Ferry Street next door to Hecker's home , was completed in 1892. For the exterior, Eyre used coursed hard blue limestone (now discolored) from New York for the first floor. Dark, closely spaced shingles of Michigan oak cover most of the rest of the façade. On the third story,
304-404: Was an upscale residential street, so lots facing Woodward were quite expensive (as is the Col. Frank J. Hecker House , on Woodward and Ferry). Lots on the side streets were less expensive, and East Ferry was quickly settled by prosperous middle and upper middle class Detroit residents. Prominent early residents of the district include Col. Frank J. Hecker , colonel in the Union Army and founder of
323-405: Was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1970 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Charles Lang Freer , in partnership with Col. Frank J. Hecker , made his fortune from the Peninsular Car Company . Freer travelled widely, with one of his favorite spots being Newport, Rhode Island . There, he was favorably impressed by the shingle style summer cottages built by
342-519: Was hired on as an agent for the Union Pacific Railroad . In the 1870s, a group of investors from Detroit decided to build a rail line near Logansport, Indiana ; they hired Hecker to manage their project. Hecker took on the project, taking a younger Charles Lang Freer with him. Although the project fell through, the Detroit investors were pleased with Hecker's work and invited him to Detroit. There, in 1879, Hecker and Freer organized
361-696: Was later a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1900 . During the Spanish–American War , Hecker joined the Army once more, where he was put in charge of transporting Spanish prisoners. In 1899, he was commissioned as a colonel. This service brought him to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt , who in 1904 appointed Hecker to the Panama Canal Commission . Hecker is perhaps best known for
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