Higbie Maxon Agney is pleased to offer its 2019 Grosse Pointe Real Estate Annual Report. Within this report you will find information on average sale prices, sales volume, real estate trends, and much more.

Our goal is to give you an accurate and complete picture of the 2019 Grosse Pointe housing market. All of the graphs were produced internally for Higbie Maxon Agney using MiRealSource multiple listing service. We are confident that these are the best statistics currently available on the Grosse Pointe housing market, and we hope that you will find the contents of this report readable and useful. Over the coming months we will use this information to help our clients make informed, educated real estate decisions. 

2019 was an extremely…

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Last week we featured 16500 E. Jefferson, the former home of Louis Mendelssohn’s youngest daughter, Lydia. The property was razed in 1996, and the land subdivided. 

This week we are going to feature the work of J. Robert F. Swanson. This talented architect was also linked to the Mendelssohn family having designed the home of Gordon Mendelssohn, Lydia’s brother. 

J. Robert F. Swanson was involved in creating at least four homes in Grosse Pointe –

  • 21 Colonial Road, (1929)
  • 677 Middlesex (1937)
  • 280 Vendome Ct (1937)
  • 203 Cloverly – in conjunction with Eliel and Eero Saarinen (1939) 

J. Robert F. Swanson was born in Menominee, Michigan, in 1900. His parents, both of who were natives of Sweden, relocated the family to Grand Rapids, and…

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Last week we introduced you to another lost mansion, the original 1000 Lake Shore, former grand home of Louis Mendelssohn, and his wife Evelyn. 

This week we are going to continue to the story of the Mendelssohn family as we introduce 16500 E. Jefferson, the home of Louis Mendelssohn’s youngest daughter, Lydia, born in 1906. 

In 1929 Ms. Medelssohn married Christian Henry Buhl, II.  That same year the couple purchased the home of Ross W. Judson on Ellair Place, Grosse Pointe Park. Mr. Judson, the founder of Continental Motor Company, had recently moved from Ellair to 15324 Windmill Pointe, named Kasteel Batavia, which was designed by noted architect Wallace Frost. 

The Buhl-Mendellsohn house on Ellair place was set on six acres between…

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Last week we presented 37 Edgemere, a mid-century property, completed, in 1951, by Carl R. Habermas for Mr. and Mrs. M. Rivard Klippel. 

This week we are going to introduce you to another lost mansion, the original 1000 Lake Shore, former grand home of Louis Mendelssohn, and his wife Evelyn.

Louis Mendelssohn was a prominent figure in Detroit. He was born in Kempen, Germany, in 1853. His parents then moved to Detroit, in 1855. Having graduated high school he began working for the architectural firm of Sheldon and Mortimer L. Smith, and later as manufacturing draftsman in the car and locomotive department of the Michigan Central Railroad. Several years later he formed a partnership with Mortimer L. Smith, and together they worked on numerous…

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Happy 2020! 

In our last post we presented 110 Cloverly, completed by Robert O. Derrick, in 1924, for Phelps Newberry, a member of the esteemed Newberry family.

This week we leave behind the grand Tudor homes of the 1920’s and head to a mid-century property, 37 Edgemere, completed, in 1951, by Carl R. Habermas for Mr. and Mrs. M. Rivard Klippel.

Very little is known about Carl R. Habermas or his career. We do know he created several homes in Grosse Pointe from the 1930’s through to the 1960’s, covering a broad architectural spectrum - Tudor, Colonial, Regency, Art Deco, and Mid-Century Modern styles. It also appears, at some point in his career, he was closely associated with noted architect J. H. Steffens. His projects in Grosse Pointe…

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