13545 Gratiot Avenue
William Marsh Furniture Company, Moss Furniture Company, NYE Furniture, Ruby’s Furniture, City Barber College, 1 Touch Sportswear
The Marsh Furniture Company was founded in Detroit in January 1926 with $12,000 in capital by William Marsh. The company’s home base was completed two years later at 13545 Gratiot Avenue in Northeast Detroit.
Around this time, the further sections of Gratiot Avenue were widened to accommodate more cars on the road and the Detroit Rapid Transit Commission’s plans for rail lines. The Marsh Furniture Company Building may have been moved or made smaller at this time.
On August 15th, 1930, the business was robbed in the early morning. The bandits took $20 in cash, or just over $350 in 2023.
By January 1933, the entire stock of the Marsh Funiture Company was being sold and auctioned off. Numerous businesses in Detroit didn’t make it through the Depression. Those who made or sold products that weren’t a necessity were often first to go.
By 1935, Moss Furniture Company was utilizing the space. In 1941, it was NYE Furniture. By 1944, Ruby’s Furniture had taken over the building. Ruby’s had multiple locations, including those on Grand River, Grand Boulevard, and Joseph Campau. They ran ads like crazy and utilized the space on Gratiot until at least 1957.
By 1960, the first long-term occupant that wasn’t a furniture store was in full swing. It wouldn’t take long for the City Barber College to make a name for itself in the community, and the educational institution was housed on Gratiot Avenue through at least the late 1970s. It was a state-approved barber school and, similar to Ruby’s decades before, ran many ads in the newspaper.
Although the school existed until 1990, it had moved further down Gratiot into Eastpoint near the end of its life. After City Barber College moved out, I’m not certain what happened to it. At some point, it was a sportswear store. The structure appears to be in solid shape, but there isn’t much going on inside. You can see it’s been taken down to the studs and appears completely empty—at least on the upper floors.
This structure reminds me of 2700 Gratiot Avenue, a former furniture store closer to downtown. Frederick K. Marsh once operated a store there, but I’m unsure if he was related to William Marsh. The structures are somewhat similarly designed and appear to be in similar shape.
Like its cousin down Gratiot Avenue, the future of the Marsh Furniture Company Building sits in the hands of its owner. It appears to be owned by the Attisha family, Chaldean immigrants who own numerous grocery stores in Metro Detroit. Although the property isn’t falling down, it doesn’t seem to have received any investment other than the bare minimum to avoid blight tickets in recent years.
Hopefully, the structure will be maintained long enough for somebody to invest in its future. If not, it’ll end up like numerous structures nearby, demolished.
