Irving and Janet Reuter House
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S5280ft
N 42° 33.429 W 084° 37.262
16T E 695297 N 4714381
Located on the east side of Michigan Avenue at 677 South Michigan Road, 0.3 miles north of Bunker Highway (not at 728 South Michigan Road like the State website showed). Parking available on-site.
Waymark Code: WM102B
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 11/27/2006
Views: 17
The Irving and Janet Reuter House sits on five acres of grounds overlooking the Grand River. The house is a two-story, L-shaped, cross-gable, Tudor Revival building with brick exterior walls and half-timbering in some of the gables. Two large wings give the house's back a U-shaped form. The land slopes downward toward the river, and the house's rear basement wall and the retaining wall of a terrace below it are faced in fieldstone. The facade displays a projecting, first-story bay window, and bands of casement windows, and the roof is clad in slate. The original pagoda and a swimming pool are also located on the grounds, as well as annual and perennial gardens, an artisan well, a gazebo and a fish pond.
Statement of Significance:
Irving Jacob Reuter (1885-1972) and Janet Graham (1886-1984) met and were wed in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 24, 1909. Mr Reuter had graduated from the Emmerich Manual Training High School in 1903 and earned an engineering degree from Purdue University in 1907. Following graduation, he joined the Overland Motor Company in Indianapolis as an assistant engineer. In 1909 he went to work for the Remy Electrical Company in Anderson, Indiana. After Remy Electric was incorporated into General Motors in 1918, Reuter was appointed General Manager of the Olds Motor Car Company in 1925 and the couple moved to Lansing. In 1927 property was purchased in Janet's name a few miles north of the town of Eaton Rapids. Construction began in April 1927, and the house, named "Medovue" by its owners, was completed early the next year. Harold Childs of East Lansing designed the house; Reniger Construction of Lansing served as the building contractor. In 1930 architect Kenneth Black added a rear wing and bedroom space to the house. The Reuters lived at Medovue from 1928 to 1936, when Irving and Janet Reuter retired to Florida. From 1940 to 1962 the Roman Catholic Church owned the property and the Most Reverend Joseph H. Albers, first Bishop of the Diocese of Lansing, used the home as his private residence. In 1989, the house and grounds were converted into an inn, restaurant, and conference center.
Historical Name: Irving Jacob Reuter, Janet Graham-Reuter, Reverend Joseph H. Albers
Parking nearby?: yes
D/T ratings: 
website: [Web Link]
Registered Site #: Local Site #1824
Historical Date: Not listed
Description: Not listed
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