The Charles Lang Freer House is located at 71 East Ferry Avenue in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, USA. The house was originally built for the industrialist and art collector

Charles Lang Freer Charles Lang Freer (February 25, 1854 – September 25, 1919) was an American industrialist, art collector, and patron. He is known for his large collection of Asian art, East Asian, Visual art of the United States, American, and Middle Eastern a ...

, whose gift of the

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and ...

began the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. The structure currently hosts the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute of Child & Family Development of

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1970 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1971.

History

, in partnership with Col. Frank J. Hecker, made his fortune from the Peninsular Car Company.Charles Lang Freer Home
from Detroit1701.org Freer travelled widely, with one of his favorite spots being

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. There, he was favorably impressed by the shingle style summer cottages built by the wealthy. Desiring a similar home, in 1890 Freer contracted with Wilson Eyre to design a home in Detroit. The house, on Ferry Street next door to Hecker's home, was completed in 1892.

Architecture

For the exterior, Eyre used coursed hard blue

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

(now discolored) from New York for the first floor. Dark, closely spaced shingles of Michigan oak cover most of the rest of the façade. On the third story, a triangular

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

and various dormers interrupt the roofline. Chimneys dominate the east and west ends of the home, underneath which are porches. These porches were originally open-air, but are currently closed

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

. On the interior, Eyre designed the home with Freer's art collection in mind. (This collection is now in the

.) There are 22 rooms and 12 fireplaces in the house, as well as an elevator, and numerous balconies, bay windows, enclosed porches, and skylights.Charles Lang Freer House
from the city of Detroit In 1906, Eyre designed an art gallery, added above the stable. In 1904, Frederick Leyland's widow sold Freer '' The Peacock Room'', designed by James Whistler, and Freer had Eyre design another room in the carriage houseFreer House history
from the Merrill Palmer Institute in which to install it.

Current use

In 1916, Lizzie Pitts Merrill Palmer left a bequest of three million dollars to found a school centering on home and family development.
from the Merrill Palmer Institute In 1923, the Institute purchased the house, and have remained there since. In 1980, this Institute (currently Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute) was incorporated into

. The Institute runs the Early Childhood Center, a preschool for area children age 2 1/2 to 5, and has a research faculty of 12 studying children from infancy to adulthood.

References

External links

MPSI, Freer House Main Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freer, Charles Lang, House Houses completed in 1887 Houses in Detroit Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Culture of Detroit Shingle Style houses Michigan State Historic Sites Historic district contributing properties in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Shingle Style architecture in Michigan Gilded Age mansions

History

Architecture

Current use

References

Further reading

External links