The Fredösphere

I devoted Saturday afternoon to a walking tour of Ypsilanti with my old friend Alan Young.  We saw lots of restored classic homes, some in grand style.  Sadly, it's possible to live for years and years in this county and not know of the gems that Ypsilanti contains.  The city has always had to fight its reputation  as the poor stepsister to Ann Arbor.

I took lots of pictures and I will be sharing more later, but today I wanted to highlight this Queen Anne mansion on the northeast side.


This picture inadequately conveys just how impressive the house is.  Trees obscure the view from the sidewalk, and I didn't feel like invading the huge lawn to get a better view.  What you see here is only a small part of the whole.

Shelly Byron Hutchinson [Wow.  Shelly Byron.  Whoa.  I think I'll name my next child Pound Yeats if he's a boy, or Plath Dickenson if she's a girl]  made his fortune by inventing trading stamps -- he's the "H" in S and H Green Stamps.  He built this house, then lost everything.  Today, the house is headquarters for the High Scope Foundation.  This information comes courtesy of a book by James Thomas Mann.  It is published by Arcadia, a publisher specializing in regional history.  Thank you, Arcadia.  I have two of Arcadia's books on Ypsi, one on Ann Arbor, and I covet the several volumes on Detroit.

Labels: Architecture