Charles Lang Freer House

Charles Lang Freer House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic District Contributing Property
Michigan State Historic Site
Charles Lang Freer House
Location:	71 East Ferry St. Detroit, Michigan  United States
Coordinates:	42°21′43″N 83°3′57″W / 42.36194°N 83.06583°W / 42.36194; -83.06583Coordinates: 42°21′43″N 83°3′57″W / 42.36194°N 83.06583°W / 42.36194; -83.06583
Built:	1887
Architect:	Wilson Eyre
Architectural style:	Queen Anne (Shingle Style).
Governing body:	Private
Part of:	East Ferry Avenue Historic District (#80001921)
NRHP Reference#:	71000426[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:	April 16, 1971
Designated CP:	March 10, 1980
Designated MSHS:	November 6, 1970[2]

The Charles Lang Freer House is located at 71 East Ferry Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Originally built by the industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer whose gift of the Freer Gallery of Art began the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The house is currently the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute of Human Development & Family Life of Wayne State University. The structure was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1970^[2] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.^[1]

History

Charles Lang Freer, in partnership with Col. Frank J. Hecker, made his fortune from the Peninsular Car Company.^[3] Freer travelled widely, with one of his favorite spots being Newport, Rhode Island.^[3] There, he was favorably impressed by the shingle style summer cottages built by the wealthy. Desiring a similar home, in 1890 Freer contracted with Wilson Eyre to design a home in Detroit.^[3] The house, on Ferry Street next door to Hecker's home, was completed in 1892.

Architecture

For the exterior, Eyre used coursed hard blue limestone (now discolored) from New York for the first floor.^[3] Dark, closely spaced shingles of Michigan oak cover most of the rest of the facade of the house. On the third story, a triangular gable and various dormers interrupt the roofline.^[3] 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.^[3]

The structure on the right is the carriage house of the Freer House, where the Peacock Room was installed. The structure on the left is the carriage house of the nextdoor Hecker house.

On the interior, Eyre designed the home with Freer's art collection in mind.^[3] (This collection is now in the Smithsonian Institution's Freer Gallery of Art.) There are 22 rooms and 12 fireplaces in the house, as well as an elevator, and numerous balconies, bay windows, enclosed porches, and skylights.^[4] 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^[5] in which to intall it.

The Peacock Room.

Current Use

In 1916, Lizzie Pitts Merrill Palmer left a bequest of 3 million dollars to found a school centering on home and family development.^[6] In 1923, the Institute purchased the house, and have remained there since.^[3] In 1980, this Institute was incorporated into Wayne State University.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Freer, Charles Lang, House". Michigan State Housing Development Authority. http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/15600.htm. Retrieved September 2, 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Charles Lang Freer Home from Detroit1701.org
4. ^ Charles Lang Freer House from the city of Detroit
5. ^ Freer House history from the Merrill Palmer Institute
6. ^ History from the Merrill Palmer Institute

References and further reading

• Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3. 
• Meyer, Katherine Mattingly and Martin C.P. McElroy with Introduction by W. Hawkins Ferry, Hon A.I.A. (1980). Detroit Architecture A.I.A. Guide Revised Edition. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1651-4. 

External links

• Merrill Palmer Institute