136-140 Glendale Avenue
Glen-Vila Apartments
The Glen-Villa Apartments at 136-140 Glendale Avenue in Highland Park were built in 1926. The apartment complex sits across the street from the former Highland Park High School, which was completed in 1915.
The structure was four stories, constructed of brick, and had a basement. Initially, it would have 76 apartments with a combination of three-room and two-room units. On July 15th, 1926, the Guaranty Trust Company of Detroit valued the property at $378,000, or over $6,000,000 in 2022.
Throughout its history, the Glen-Villa Apartments were some of the nicest that Highland Park could offer. Like many large apartment complexes in the Detroit area, modernization would be expensive, and landlords could only charge so much in rent. Lower rents led to less maintenance, and the property eventually showed signs of aging.
In February of 1993, a five-alarm fire ripped through the Glen-Villa, starting on the fourth floor and spreading throughout the back of the structure. Initially, it was reported that nobody had been injured in the blaze, but Roderick Halton, 36, was later discovered in the rubble.
The fire damage was fixed after the blaze. At some point, perhaps after the fire, the apartment building was converted into 70 studio, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom units in an attempt to bring new tenants to the structure. However, around 2014, the property closed its doors for good.
In January of 2016, a 3rd-alarm fire broke out within the building, and Highland Park and Detroit firefighters fought the blaze for hours. Most of the nearby fire hydrants were broken, or without pressure, so hoses had to be run blocks away. A few days later, it was still smoldering.
Whereas the 1993 fire damaged large portions of the rear of the structure, the 2016 fire decimated the front and middle of the building. Due to the damage from the fire, the structure collapsed within itself in multiple places. The facade hangs on by a thread and appears ready to fall over at any moment—although it has survived nearly seven years.
The school across the street, formerly Highland Park High School, would see a similar fate. The high school moved out in 1977, and Highland Park Community College took over the building. That would eventually become Highland Park Career Academy, which would close its doors for good in 2009.
In May 2022, a fire broke out in the historic auditorium—damaging the structure so badly that it collapsed on top of itself. Similar to the apartments across the street, the fire-damaged portion of the building stands as a shell of its former glory.
The Glen-Villa Apartments will come down—it’s just a question of whether it will be nature or wrecking crews that get to it first.
