4821 Lawton Street
Marvin M. Stanton Substation for the Detroit Public Lighting Commission
In August 1909, the Public Lighting Commission started receiving bids for constructing a substation on Lawton near Warren. The architectural plans were laid by Rogers & McFarlane. Later that month, the contract was awarded to Shoup & Maurer, who agreed to complete the work for $6,950, or roughly $225K today.
The substation was named after Marvin M. Stanton, a Detroit businessman. After the death of James E. Brewster on November 22, 1886, Brewster & Stanton became Stanton, Sampson, & Company, one of the finest men’s furnishing wholesalers in Detroit.
In 1904, Stanton was appointed a member of the Public Lighting Commission by Mayor William Cotter Maybury. While serving his term, Stanton passed away from heart complications on June 6, 1908.
If you keep a keen eye out, you’ll notice that these structures dot the landscape of Detroit. There’s an extremely similar design employed by buildings at 526 Custer and 3525 Beals. 4821 Lawton, pictured here, has a flat roof and more ornament, whereas the previous two have pitched roofs and a more straightforward design.
On February 4, 1930, Alfred G. Armstrong was replacing the pilot light in a transformer at the Stanton Substation. While working, he was electrocuted and died. He was 69 years old, had lived in Detroit for 43 years, and had worked for the Public Lighting Commission for 35 years.
To date, I’ve never seen someone go in and out of any of the Public Lighting Commission structures I’ve encountered. Because they don’t get much foot traffic, they’re often used as a blank canvas for graffiti artists to broadcast their message.
As they’re city-owned, they’re often buffed using the colors the city always uses to cover graffiti—a murky red and brown. Many refer to this as an Ilitch Paint Job due to the sheer number of vacant structures owned by the Ilitchs that have had their graffiti buffed off using these colors.
I dig these little structures; they’re physical evidence that even nondescript buildings with little in-and-out traffic used to be complete with stunning ornament.
After all, who doesn’t love red brick?
