544 East Frederick Avenue was built in 1890 for John J. Owen, a contractor/builder. Like its neighbor at 580 East Frederick (Warren House/Dunbar Hospital), it was built by the Vinton Company. Bertha Alena Hansbury was born in Detroit in 1888. Reportedly, she was born on the site of the Fox Theatre. Hansbury was the product of multi-ethnic parents, a White mother and Black father. After attending the city’s public schools, she attended the prestigious Detroit Conservatory of Music. She then studied music abroad in Germany. In 1925, Hansbury and her husband, William H. Phillips, purchased the former Owen home. Hansbury, an accomplished pianist, founded the Hansbury Music School, which catered to the needs of African American children in the area. At the same time, Hansbury also ran a boarding school inside the home called the Bertha Hansbury Little Folk's School. Unfortunately, the Hansbury School was short-lived and didn't survive the economic strife of the Great Depression. In the 1930s, the home was the site of the Household Guild, the first state-licensed employment agency for blacks in Detroit. In the 1970s, Hilanius Phillips, who was the city's first black head city planner (and the grandson of Bertha Hansbury), championed the establishment of the East Frederick Avenue Historic District, which included structures of great importance to the African American community in Detroit and to the development of the Cultural Center. Multiple attempts to convert the home into a museum have stalled. #Detroit #CulturalCenter #MidtownDetroit #QueenAnne #VictorianArchitecture #archi_ologie #oldhouselove #casasecasarios #houses_ofthe_world #beautifulhousesoldandnew #deserve2preserve #TheAmericanHome #houseportrait #BrickStory #RawDetroit #PureMichigan #PureMittigan #MotorCityShooters #PureDetroit313 #DepictTheD #VisitDetroit #Michiganders #ThisPlaceMatters #ThisPlaceMattersDetroit #MichiganPlacesMatter #SavingPlaces (at Cultural Center Historic District, Detroit) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpOpvtcD_Ev/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
