John Harvey was born in Glasgow, Scotland on November 19, 1840. He came to Detroit as a young child. Harvey attended the University of Michigan, studying chemistry and pharmacy. Though he became a successful “druggist”, Harvey, a devout Presbyterian, found the most joy in helping the city’s less fortunate. He founded the Mission School of the Detroit Industrial School, which fed and educated poor and orphaned children, most notably during the Civil War. When he decided to build a home in Detroit’s most prominent neighborhood, Harvey hired architect John V. Smith. Smith designed the home in the Second Empire style, a style with its beginnings in France that had found widespread acceptance in the United States by the 1860s. In fact, the area that John Harvey chose to build his new home became known as “Little Paris”, due to the many French-inspired dwellings. There are also Queen Anne elements visible. The mansion is a 3-story, 11,000-square- foot masterpiece built of red brick and featuring octagonal towers, gables and Mansard roof. John Harvey died December 6, 1905. His widow continued to reside in the home until the 1920s, when it was purchased by Jesse Hobbs, an automobile worker. In 1938, 97 Winder, like virtually all of Brush Park’s grand residences at the time, was converted into a boarding house. In 1986, Ghassan Yazbeck and Marilyn Nash-Yazbeck purchased the home when it was SRO housing and in terrible condition. During the next 2 decades, the couple spent $1 million restoring and refurnishing the landmark to its Victorian era grandeur. In 2005, the structure was converted into The Inn at 97 Winder, an elegant bed and breakfast. #Detroit #BrushPark #MidtownDetroit #SecondEmpire #FrenchRenaissanceRevival #VictorianArchitecture #WinderStreet #archi_ologie #oldhouselove #casasecasarios #houses_ofthe_world #beautifulhouseoldandnew #MansardMonday #TheAmericanHome #houseportrait #BrickStory #RawDetroit #PureMichigan #PureMittigan #MotorCityShooters #PureDetroit313 #DepictTheD #VisitDetroit #Michiganders #ThisPlaceMatters #ThisPlaceMattersDetroit #MichiganPlacesMatter (at The Inn at 97 Winder) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZGQb7ZDOx4/?utm_medium=tumblr
