The Alexander Chêne House was a private residence located at 2681 East Jefferson Avenue in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1985 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1986, but subsequently demolished in April 1991.Chêne, Alexander, House (demolished 4/91)
from the state of Michigan

Description

The Alexander Chêne House was a two-story,

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

-style house with additional

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

details on the facade, added after original construction. The house was constructed of red brick sitting on a raised basement. A one-story porch sat in the center of the front facade, and the side walls rose above the roof to form fractables. A small cornice ran the width of the front. The windows were topped with decorative iron lintels. A rear extension was added to the house in the 20th century.

History

The Chêne House was one of the few examples of the Federal style in Detroit. It was built in 1850 by Alexander Chêne on land which had been granted to the Chêne family by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

of France in 1707. The house was later owned by Charles B. Warren, who constructed the rear wing some time between 1902 and 1914. The house was later used as a fraternity house for the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic univers ...

, and during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

was a speakeasy. Starting in 1935, the house was used as a fine dining restaurant, known as Little Harry's. The restaurant went through a series of owners, and closed in 1990. It was sold to singer

Anita Baker Anita Denise Baker (born January 26, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads, especially renowned for her work during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s. Starting her career ...

, and in 1991, the structure was demolished and replaced with a franchise International House of Pancakes (IHOP).

Gallery

LittleHarrys 1930a.jpg, Little Harry's Restaurant, Chene House Detroit MI DEMOLISHED.jpg, Site where the house once stood (now IHOP parking lot)

References

{{East Jefferson Avenue Residential TR Houses completed in 1855 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Demolished buildings and structures in Detroit Michigan State Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Houses in Detroit Buildings and structures demolished in 1991