Real Estate Blog - Luxury Real Estate

Historical Architecture of Grosse Pointe – The Gardens of William Pitkin Jr.

Last week we explored several homes on the elegant street of Lothrop, Grosse Pointe Farms. One of the homes we profiled, 99 Lothrop, was designed by Charles A. Platt. Mr. Platt was not only a talented architect, but was also considered to be one of America’s more influential landscape designers. 

Platt designed at least four homes (that we know of) in the Grosse Pointe communities. Despite his natural talents in landscape design Platt was happy to hire leading landscape architects to work alongside him on his project(s). His propensity to hire nationally recognized landscape designers was based on his desire to create a natural synergy between the house and its surroundings, and one designer who was particularly skilled in this area was William…

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Historical Architecture of Grosse Pointe – Welcome to 1051 Berkshire

Welcome to one of the most individual homes in Grosse Pointe – 1051 Berkshire. Not only does the house have a very individualistic design it was also one of the few residences created by the Detroit based firm of Donaldson & Meier.

Donaldson & Meier were well known for their church work in Detroit and southeastern Michigan. John M. Donaldson and Henry J. Meier founded the firm in 1880. Donaldson was born in Scotland in 1854 and immigrated to Detroit with his family as a child. He had a wide and varied architectural education – after graduating from school he returned to Europe to study at the Art Academy in Munich, Germany and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

John Donaldson – Courtesy of Wikipedia

Henry Meier – Courtesy of…

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Historical Architecture of Grosse Pointe – An Exploration – Part 4: Bedford Road

Continuing with our review of individual streets in Grosse Pointe, we proceed in our exploration of Grosse Pointe Park and the intriguing street of Bedford.

Many of the houses in the Park were built prior to World War II, created for high-flying executives looking to relocate their families to Grosse Pointe. By the 1940’s the Park had an abundance of architecturally significant homes, located on many prestigious streets, including: Bishop, Kensington, Yorkshire, Edgemont Park, Three Mile Drive, Berkshire, Balfour, Middlesex, Westchester and Bedford (to name but a few).

Bedford has many interesting houses for us to profile including a number of homes created by several noted designers including: John C. Stahl, J. Ivan Dise, Robert Calder, Walter…

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Kay Agney celebrates over 30 years in Real Estate as an ‘industry legend’ at the 21st annual Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate fall conference

Kay Agney, broker/owner of Higbie Maxon Agney (HMA), recently attended the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate annual fall conference in Aspen, Colorado for members of the prestigious network. HMA is the only regents member from Grosse Pointe Farms.

The annual conference brings together a global collection of the finest luxury real estate brokers in the world to share their knowledge and connect with fellow luxury professionals.

A highlight of this year’s event was the expert panel discussions led by prominent members of the Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate network. Kay was invited to be part of the panel comprised of ‘Industry Legends’ – realtors who have 30+ years experience in real estate. Members of the panel were asked to participate in a video…

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Historical Architecture of Grosse Pointe – The Work of Charles Kotting

Having recently featured Mr. Kotting’s work at 43 McKinley we wanted to continue with our exploration of this architect by profiling some of the other homes he created in Grosse Pointe.

Charles Kotting, born in the Holland in 1865, worked on both commercial buildings and residential projects throughout Metro Detroit. Having completed his architectural studies in Amsterdam, Kotting moved to Detroit at the age of 24. He joined the prestigious firm of Mason and Rice, where he stayed for thirteen years. In 1903 he team up with fellow architect Alphus Chittenden. During their 13 years together they created several ‘landmark’ buildings in Detroit including the Detroit Boat Club’s building on Belle Isle, the office building at the Detroit Stove Works plant,…

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Higbie Maxon Agney – the Face’s of Luxury Real Estate in Grosse Pointe

Higbie Maxon Agney has established a stellar reputation over the last 85 years as Grosse Pointe’s premier real estate broker. Under the stewardship of sole broker and owner Kay Agney, HMA’s team of dedicated agents continue to lead the way in delivering an unparalleled level of service to every client, while matching people and houses…. with imagination!

Meet the Team:

Bottom row – Left to right Marilyn Stanitzke, Vicky Colwell, Dennis Andrus, Melissa Dagher Singh, Mary Anna Sheldon, Kay Agney, Jaime Rae (Agney) Turnbull, Beverly Tannian, Jan McLellan Ryndress, Patricia Verb, Kara Crespo

Middle row – Bob Kay, Sandy Azar, Carolyn Hanley, Libby Follis, Howard Buhl, Karen Gennari, Heather Adragna Ulku, Darby Moran, Drew Wrosch

Top row – Richard…

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