This is the James Scott residence on the corner of Peterboro and Park in the Midtown District in Detroit. James Scott’s father also named James Scott was a prominent businessman in Detroit and when he died in the 1870’s he gave a large fortune to his son. He built this house in 1887, but from what I read Mr. Scott was not the most well-respected person in Detroit. When he built his house he wanted to purchase the property south of his, when the owner would not sell it to him he built a giant wall to block the sun from reaching his neighbor’s house, that is supposedly why the south wall has no windows.
when he died in 1910 he left the city $200,000. to build a fountain and stipulated that there needs to be a statue of him. Many of the citizens did not want to build the fountain because of the stipulation and felt he was not worthy of a statue. Some pointed out that he apparently never worked a day in his life and was best known for the time he spent in downtown bars. eventually, it was decided to spend his money and expand Belle Isle and build a fountain.
the home eventually was converted into apartments then suffered from a fire in the ’70s and was left abandoned, A developer is in the process of converting it into condominiums. you can read about it HERE. I am looking forward to getting an “after” photo of the restoration to go with this “before” pic from a few years ago.
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