13101 Mack Avenue
Wayne County Home & Savings Bank, State Engineering & Construction Accessories Company, Southeast Neighborhood City Hall, Greater Missionary Baptist Church, House of Life Church
This Wayne County Home & Savings Bank branch was completed by 1928 and was known as the Lenox-Mack Branch. Eventually, it would combine with other local banks to form the First National Bank.
Detroit had a bank explosion in the 1910s and 1920s, with hundreds of branches opening their doors in the Motor City. As quickly as they opened, the Great Depression closed many of them, with the lucky ones being consolidated or merged into other banks.
I’m not certain what happened to this Wayne County Home & Savings Bank branch. As I’ve covered in other posts, many former bank buildings were used for manufacturing during the war effort.
In 1958, there was an advert for the State Engineering & Construction Accessories Company at this address, 13101 Mack Avenue. They sold weatherization materials, and the advert was for weather stripping for wood windows to keep Detroit’s harsh winter wind out.
In 1967, the space was available for lease. You could get it furnished or as-is, and it had air conditioning, heat, a conference room, parking, and storage. Two years later, it was still for lease (or for lease again). The ad said that it was 2,800 square feet and offered off-street parking. The Winkler Company was in charge of renting it.
In 1970, Detroit pioneered its Neighborhood City Hall program, placing a handful of city locations in neighborhoods across the city to help Detroiters with everything from taxes to community organizing. By 1972, the former bank building pictured here had opened as the Southeast Neighborhood City Hall.
However, not all residents were aware of the program. An anonymous resident called the city to tell them about an abandoned building with the front door wide open. The Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department sent an inspector only to realize that it was the Neighborhood City Hall.
The program was installed by newly elected mayor Roman S. Gribbs, who borrowed the Neighborhood City Hall program from Mayor Kevin White in Boston, serving that city from 1968 until 1984.
Back in Detroit, four Neighborhood City Hall sites were planned initially, and at least three came to fruition. The Northwest City Hall was at 8903 West Eight Mile Road, Southwest City Hall was at 2214 Springwells Street, and the Northeast City Hall was at 13101 Mack Avenue, pictured here. The program spanned into the early 2000s, with numerous other locations opening. By the 1980s, this location ceased to exist.
In 1986, the structure became Greater Missionary Baptist Church. In 1997, the building sold for $49,000. It later became House of Life Church, which appears to have vacated the structure in the past few years.
During the pandemic, I photographed this church a handful of times. On one such occasion, a man stopped me and said he was a member of the congregation that owned it. At that time, it was still operational. He didn’t seem too keen on me photographing it, so I left.
There are a ton of former bank buildings littering the landscape of Detroit, many of which are now churches or the occasional corner store.
Numerous structures on this section of Mack Avenue have been demolished in recent years. So far, this structure is in safe hands. Hopefully, that continues to be the case.
The interior is in fair shape, so we’re starting on the right foot.
