Gray-Spicer House - Michigan Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

From the State Historic Preservation Office website:
Narrative Description:
The Gray-Spicer House, Barn and Stable, now part of Farmington Hills' Heritage Park, is situated in Section 21 of the former Farmington Township, just west of Farmington Road. The three buildings within this park associated with the Grays and Spicers and maintaining their integrity are included in the nomination; two others are also in the park. Immediately to the south of this complex is Longacre, the Luman Goodenough House, which serves as the Farmington Community Center and is already listed in the State Register of Historic Sites. The existing park complex consists of five buildings, the original Palmer Sherman farmhouse, dating from the 1850s (since moved and clad with aluminum siding), two barns (both moved from other locations within the township about 1940), a horse stable (which also served as a garage and chauffeur's quarters) and the main house used by the Spicers. The sheep barn, which was subsequently added to by William Spicer and has recently been enlarged again for use as a day camp center, and the aluminum-sided Palmer Sherman House are excluded from the State Register nomination, since they lack the integrity of the other three structures. This nomination includes the 1926 main residence (designed by Marcus Burrowes, who built his own house adjacent to the southern edge of the farm, about a half mile west of Longacre), the c.1880 cow barn and the c. 1918 horse stable and chauffeur's quarters. The first of these buildings on this site was the stable. It is a long, narrow, one and one-half story wood frame gable-roofed building with a series of shed roof dormers extending along both sides of the southern portion of the roof; the exterior walls are sided with vertical wooden boards. The south end of the building, which served as Luman Goodenough's garage and chauffeur's and cook's quarters, has a concrete foundation and floor, the northern (stable) end has an earthen floor. The south facade features two sets of large wooden double doors which serve as entrances to the two vehicle bays. Above them are nearly adjacent large double-hung windows, presumably to illuminate the servants' lodging. Six large wooden brackets support the overhanging eaves at this end of the roof gable. When attorney Luman Goodenough hired Marcus Burrowes to design the major addition to his brick house at the southeast corner of the farm, he also requested him to plan this stable/garage/servants' quarters to replace other buildings that were torn down at the time (1918) to make room for gardens. Later, his daughter Eleanor[e] Spicer stabled her horses here and also used it as a service building for her farm-estate. It is currently used for storage. The main house, to the north and west of the stable, was designed by Marcus R. Burrowes as part of a twelve acre summer estate for David and Martha Gray in 1924; construction was completed in 1926. The Gray family never lived in the house and Mr. Gray died in California in 1928, whereupon his widow sold it under land contract to an attorney, Mr. Nash. In 1933, Mr. Nash was unable to meet his obligations under the land contract and forfeited the estate to Mrs. Gray, who in an arrangement with Luman and Eliza Goodenough, bequeathed the house and land to their daughter Eleanor[e] as wedding present when she married William John Spicer, also an attorney, in 1935. Eleanor[e] purchased 120 acres from a neighbor, Richard Webber, in 1937; subsequently, she received title to all of her parents' property (except for the Longacre house and surrounding five acres) and operated the resulting 210 acres as a working farm until her death in 1982. She donated Longacre, her parents' home, to the community; it now serves as the Farmington Community Center. The city of Farmington Hills purchased her farm in 1985 for use as a park. Burrowes designed an English style country house with two wings; the bedroom wing was at the south and the servants' wing at the north. (Both wings have recently been converted to conference rooms.) The overall design of the house is reminiscent of California residences of the period with its long, low profile and wood shingle roof. The exterior walls are stuccoed with occasional half-timbered trim; there are copper eaves troughs and ornamental metal lanterns along the exterior. The interior retains interesting decorative features, such as a tiled floor in the entranceway, molded plaster ceiling decoration and hand wrought iron light fixtures. The living room has a stone fireplace and an exposed beam ceiling constructed of large wooden trusses. The fenestration consists of large steel casement windows, some floor-length, and several glass-paned doors. Situated between the stable and the 1926 house is a circa 1880 wooden cow barn. It is a two story building of post and beam construction, some timbers retaining their original bark. The standard gambrel barn roof is sheathed with corrugated galvanized metal. The floor on the second level is made of tongue and groove planking. The basement is of concrete block, while the exterior above the foundation is clad with wide vertical boards. The west facade has two large sliding doors centrally located and a smaller sliding door at the left side. There is a small one story shed appended to the north facade and a one story concrete block extension with a sloping roof extends across the south end at the basement level. A large silo made of reinforced concrete is located at the southeast corner; it is marked with its builder's name: Smith Silo Company, Oxford, Michigan. This barn, where the cattle were housed on the Spicer Farm, was moved here (c. 1940) from its original location near Eight Mile Road and Telegraph; it was dismantled and transported in three sections, then reassembled. After the city of Farmington Hills acquired the property in 1985, the architectural firm of Kirk and Koskela was hired to do stabilization on the barn. It is now used for storage. The Gray-Spicer House, Barn and Stable qualify for listing in the State Register of Historic Sites under criterion III as a fine example of English country style residential architecture, representing the work of prominent local architect Marcus Burrowes. The Michigan Historical Commission listed the site at the local level of significance. It should be noted that the SHPO had reservations about this designation due to the poor quality of documentation. A list of sources is provided. Authored by Squire Jaros, Data Integrator, State Historic Preservation Office Site No. L2005

Parking nearby?: yes D/T ratings: website: [Web Link] Registered Site #: Local Site #2005 Historical Date: Not listed Historical Name: Not listed Description: Not listed

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