>>If you look at some of the housing built in the 20’s-40’s there are some gorgeous mansions clearly built by the 1%. The workmanship in them is breathtaking. Within a decade they’ll be burned out shells used as drug dens. It’s heartbreaking in a way.<<
Heartbreaking indeed. My grandparents owned two adjacent homes in Detroit (sidebar: The rumor is that grandma was involved in the underground railroad, and I always believed it because I played in a dirt tunnel that connected the 2 homes, but that’s beside the point). These homes — not just grandma’s — truly were breathtakingly beautiful. Of course, part of the reason they are being sold dirt cheap is because most of them already ARE burned out drug dens and squatter homes.
Of all the crap that is Detroit now, I think the state of these homes is what gets me the most...hence, why your post touched me.
Even if I could track down grandma’s homes, I wouldn’t give a thin dime to the PTB for them — I’ve already paid my dues, including part of the heart and soul, to the communist monsters who have destroyed my home town.
I have no idea how old you are but you’d have to be 90 or so if your GRANDparents were involved in the underground railroad. And they’d have to have been in their 20’s or so when they were involved in that. That’s been 160 or so years ago.
Would be interesting to know though. There’s usually a nugget of some truth to family stories.
The sheer history that’s been destroyed, and will be destroyed soon, is mind boggling.
http://www.trulia.com/property/1000176109-1500-Seminole-St-Detroit-MI-48214
“This 1909 Built Louis Kamper-designed French Regency mansion sits on 3 lots, surrounded by lavish greenery and gardens. Chandelier over the grand staircase was a gift from Edsel Ford to the original owner, Cornelius Ray. Palladian windows, heavily ornamented marble fireplaces.”