3365 Michigan Avenue
The Grosfield Building
I’ve had a love affair with Detroit’s Spoke Streets for years. At one time, they were commercial corridors with every kind of business you could imagine and residential structures that ranged from small homes to huge apartment complexes. As Detroit became more dependent on the car, the Spoke Streets widened, forcing lawns and sprawling sidewalks to become tiny islands for pedestrians.
Thousands of men and women have influenced the landscape of Woodward, Gratiot, Grand River, Jefferson, and Michigan Avenues. In the late 1800s, none was more influential on the latter than Anthony Grosfield.
Grosfield was born in Westphalia, Germany, on January 4, 1843. He arrived in the United States in the 1860s by way of Liverpool and landed in Detroit in 1866. He worked at a grocer at the corner of Michigan and twenty-third street and, after his parents moved to Detroit from Germany, bought out the grocer.
In 1874, he was appointed to a senatorial committee in the Second Senatorial District of Wayne County. In September 1878, he was elected 12th Ward Delegate to the Wayne County Democratic Convention.
That same month, his son, William Anthony Grosfield, died. He was only a year and eight months old. The funeral was held at his father’s residence, 983 Michigan Avenue. This address would eventually become the structure pictured here. In June 1881, the Detroit Free Press reported, “Anthony Grosfield is building a residence on Twenty-third street, the foundation for which is already laid.”
In 1877, Grosfield became active in real estate. Throughout the 1880s, several real estate notices reference Anthony Grosfield selling properties. At some point, he opened a hardware store at the building he had built in 1881. By 1884, he was a dealer of Michigan Stove Company Garland Stoves. In addition to running a hardware store, Grosfield was a Notary Public.
In June 1893, the Detroit Free Press reported that “Warren, Henwood, & Brown will build two stores and a dwelling at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Twenty-Third Street for Anthony Grosfield.” That’s the structure pictured here.
Anthony Grosfield occupied the corner of Michigan and Twenty-Third until he died in 1927. He was 84 years old, but his death was considered a surprise. He helped start St. Boniface Church, was a senior member of the real estate company Grosfield & Scanlon, and was an important member of the German community that surrounded his building. At the time of his death, he lived at 819 West Grand Boulevard, which still stands today.
After his death, I haven’t found much information about what happened to the structure that still shares his name. I’d imagine the storefront continued to be used through the decades, and the apartments upstairs were occupied. I was told once that it was occupied into the 1990s, but I haven’t been able to verify that.
In 2017, a large portion of the building’s backside crashed down onto twenty-third street. The structure had been vacant for years, apart from an apparent renovation attempt in the mid-2000s, so preservationists were worried that this would be the end of the Grosfield Building.
In 2018, Warehouse Development announced plans to redevelop the structure. They planned to transform the building and the attached two-story warehouse into 20 lofts with first-floor retail or restaurant space. However, work never began.
On April 8, 2020, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic places as a part of the Michigan Avenue Historic Commercial District. On the submission paperwork, Joseph E. Mills is listed as the architect.
In June 2021, a fire broke out in the adjacent structure, completely gutting it. Work was done swiftly to tear it down, and the city wanted to demolish the Grosfield, too. However, it was, once again, spared.
Christos Moisides, a real estate developer, purchased the Grosfield in August 2022 alongside numerous other nearby parcels. According to Crain’s Detroit, he plans to “restore it and convert it to new uses.”
To my eye, no work has been done on the Grosfield Building.
In my opinion, 3365 Michigan Avenue will probably be demolished. The front section appears to be in great shape—but a large portion of the backside has been missing for years. I can’t see anyone going to all that trouble to fix it.
However, I’d love to see it happen, and I wish Moisides the best in his efforts to restore it. Considering they’ve done no work to try and stabilize it, I’m not holding my breath.
The view of the Grosfield Building from the nearby neighborhood around the Bohemian National Hall (3009 Tillman Street) is extraordinarily eerie.
