Last week we presented the history of the Detroit Garden Center’s Garden Pilgrimage Tour, an annual event that began around 1935. Magnificent gardens around Metro Detroit were part of the program including a significant number in Grosse Pointe.

This week we stay with the theme of outdoor spaces as we head to Fox Creek to share the story of this historic area and the project that is currently underway to improve the space where the historic marker is located with new landscaping after it had become terribly overgrown.

The Fox Creek
The area known as Fox Creek is situated close to Windmill Pointe. The creek helps connect the area in Grosse Pointe Park with the Milk River in Grosse Pointe Shores via the Black Marsh Ditch that extends for miles…

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Last week we concluded our two-part series on John L. Pottle, one of Grosse Pointe’s most prolific architects. He designed a significant number of homes and several commercial buildings throughout the community during the 1940’s-1960’s.

This week, with summer drawing to a close, we would like to take the opportunity to present the history of the Detroit Garden Center’s Garden Pilgrimage Tour, an annual tour that began around 1935. Landscape design in Grosse Pointe has always been an important feature of many homes. Not only were nationally renowned landscape designers hired, but plants and decorative items were sourced from all over the world.

It is possible the event stemmed from a Garden Pilgrimage that was held in Grosse Pointe in the early…

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Last week we began a two-part series on some of the projects completed by one of Grosse Pointe’s most prolific architects John L. Pottle. During the 1940’s-1960’s, Mr. Pottle designed homes and commercial buildings in an array of architectural styles throughout Grosse Pointe.

This week, in part 2 we will feature some of the commercial spaces Mr. Pottle designed during the 1940’s-1960’s, some of which could certainly be described as ahead of their time.


Arguably one of the more striking buildings John Pottle created was 70-72-74 Kercheval, located on The Hill. The commercial space was completed in 1946. The new building became the location for real estate firm Toles & Chalmers, the Junior League Shop, and for Marice Wood (an exclusive…

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Last week we explored 105 Lake Shore, part of the subdivision of the former Newberry Estate that is also the location of Warner Road, 95 Lake Shore.

This week we begin a two-part series on some of the projects completed by one of Grosse Pointe’s most prolific architects John L. Pottle. Mr. Pottle designed multiple homes and several commercial buildings throughout Grosse Pointe during the 1940’s-1960’s. In Part 1 we will feature five homes designed by Mr. Pottle. Part 2 will explore several commercial spaces he designed during the mid-to late 1940’s some of which could certainly be described as ahead of their time.

John Lockyer Pottle was born in Detroit, on January 3, 1910. Having graduated from University of Michigan in 1931, he began his…

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