Pilgrim and Puritan Apartment Complex facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Pilgrim and Puritan Apartment Complex
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| Location | 9303–9333 E. Jefferson Ave. Detroit, Michigan |
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| Built | 1924 |
| Architect | Charles N. Agree |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical / Commercial Brick |
| NRHP reference No. | 14000514 |
| Added to NRHP | August 25, 2014 |
The Pilgrim and Puritan Apartment Complex is a special old building in Detroit, Michigan. It's a big apartment complex that was built a long time ago, in 1924. It's important because it shows a unique style of apartment buildings with a courtyard in the middle. This style wasn't common on East Jefferson Avenue. The complex helped provide homes for many people in Detroit who were starting their careers, like doctors, teachers, and business people, when the city was growing fast. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, which means it's recognized as a very important historical place.
A Look Back in Time
The Pilgrim and Puritan Apartment Complex was built by two interesting men: Harry Silverman and John B. Whitley.
Harry Silverman was born in Romania. When he was 18, in 1905, he moved to Brooklyn, New York. He learned how to build things and became a building contractor. In 1912, he came to Detroit. A year later, he started his own company. He was very good at building apartment complexes and selling them quickly!
John B. Whitley came from Halifax, England. He moved to Detroit in 1915 when he was 35. There, he opened his own business that dealt with real estate, which means buying and selling land and buildings.
Both Silverman and Whitley were part of a group called the Masons. This is probably how they met each other. In 1924, these two men decided to work together. They planned to build three apartment buildings right next to each other. These buildings were named the Pilgrim, the Puritan, and the Plymouth. The Plymouth building is no longer standing today.
They hired a talented architect named Charles N. Agree to design the apartment complexes. The construction was finished in 1924. In 1925, Harry Silverman sold his share of the buildings to John Whitley, and their partnership ended.
The first people to live in these apartments were Detroit's growing professional and middle class. This included many salespeople, business leaders, office workers, teachers, doctors, and nurses. The buildings have been used as apartments ever since they were built. The Plymouth building was taken down in the mid-1980s. Around the same time, the Pilgrim and Puritan buildings were updated and fixed up. There are even plans to renovate the Pilgrim and Puritan again in the future!
What the Buildings Look Like
The Pilgrim and Puritan Apartment Complex has two buildings. They are almost exactly the same. Each building is shaped like a "U" and has four stories. They are made of red bricks and have flat roofs.
To get inside the main entrance of each building, you walk through the courtyard. This courtyard is formed by the "U" shape of the building. The buildings mix two styles of architecture: Neoclassical and Commercial Brick. They use these styles in a way that makes the buildings look balanced, even if the details aren't perfectly symmetrical.
The bottom part of the building, which is slightly raised, is covered with light-colored limestone. Above that, the walls are made of red brick. The bricks on the first floor look a bit rougher or more textured. There is also a short wall with a fence between the two buildings.
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