Historic Brush Park mansion with 3 kitchens, 6,710 square feet hits market for $3.7M

Chandra Fleming, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read
A Queen Anne-style mansion in the Brush Park neighborhood in Detroit has been listed for sale, with an asking price of $3.7 million.
A Queen Anne-style mansion in the Brush Park neighborhood in Detroit has been listed for sale, with an asking price of $3.7 million.

Want to buy one of the 10 original homes in Brush Park?

A Queen Anne-style mansion built over 100 years ago in the Detroit neighborhood is on the market, listing for $3.7 million.

According to the listing, the mansion was built in 1879 by James P. Donaldson, who was also the original owner. It is one of the original 10 homes in the area. David C. Whitney purchased the home in 1893 and hired architect Gordon W. Lloyd to remodel  the property to the Queen Anne style it is today.

Queen Anne-style houses are typically Victorian homes that have wraparound porches, high-pitched roofs, bold colors, decorative trims and asymmetrical exteriors. They are the perfect storybook house turned into reality.

A living area in the home, which is listed for sale with an asking price of $3.7 million.
A living area in the home, which is listed for sale with an asking price of $3.7 million.

As years progressed and Detroit changed, so did this particular home. In the 1920s, it became a boarding home for the influx of automobile workers, operated by owner Jeanette Davies. The boarding house lasted until the 1940s, but eventually the house began to fall apart.

What once was an "architectural gem" caved in completely and stayed like that for years, until Jeff Cowin saved the mansion, along with a few other Victorian-style homes on that block.

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One of six-and-a-half bathrooms in the Brush Park mansion.
One of six-and-a-half bathrooms in the Brush Park mansion.

Cowin came to the area in 2010, and began fixing up this home in 2012; he replaced all mechanicals, like the water heater, plumbing, electrical panels and wiring. While also making sure to replace the roof, he remodeled the main kitchen in 2015 and the other kitchens and the bathrooms in 2021.

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An exterior view from behind the mansion.
An exterior view from behind the mansion.

The home was also featured in "Only Lovers Left Alive," a 2013 film by Jim Jarmush which used the house for its authentic Detroit feel and the architectural aspect of the mansion.

The mansion is approximately 6,710-square-foot, with nine bedrooms, six full baths and one half bath. It stands at 83 Alfred St., near Woodward Avenue and John R.

It's listed for $3,695,900 by Matt O' Laughlin with property group Max Broock Realtors.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Brush Park mansion, one of Detroit's oldest homes, listed for sale