511-515 East Bethune Street
Metropole Barber Shop
511-515 East Bethune was built in the early 1900s in Detroit’s North End neighborhood. I’m not sure what its original purpose was or whom it was built for, but here’s what I’ve been able to find;
The structure’s original address was 181 East Bethune before the city-wide change in 1921. It may have been built for a business called the Bethune Avenue Pharmacy, but that may have existed on the parcel before the structure was built.
At one point, it was used as a confectionary, which could have been a part of the pharmacy or a separate entity. The business was put up for sale in 1928. There’s an apartment on the second floor, which was in use until roughly 2011. In the 1910s, the Taka Tea Company utilized space here, which was founded in February 1910 with $10,000 in capital.
The ad for the confectionary in 1928 listed it for $1,000, or roughly $17.5K in 2022. It was also available for rent at $60 per month, which is roughly $1k in 2022.
Based on various ads between 1946-47, it was used as a plastering business for some time. The company offered plastering, alterations, arch work, patching, and specialty work.
I found a few listings around 1960 that listed the apartment for rent. The ads state that it, at the time, had three rooms and a bathroom, was reasonably priced and could come furnished or unfurnished. The listing was in the ‘colored’ rental section of the newspaper.
Throughout a plurality of its history, non-whites had been limited to living in certain parts of Detroit. Through redlining, racist housing associations, and general housing discrimination, certain neighborhoods were ensured to be white-only. Whereas this listing seems totally out of place in 2022, back then, this was commonplace.
Since I’ve been exploring Detroit, this structure has had signage for Metropole Barber Shop. I’m not sure when it first opened, but it existed as early as 1992. The structure was non-vacant until around 2011 when the east wall came crashing down. After that, most of the structure was boarded up. The bricks sat in the side lot for a few years before they (mostly) disappeared.
Going as far back as the 1800s, there has been a Metropole Barber Shop in Detroit. There was one located inside the Hotel Metropole at 630 Woodward Avenue. The hotel was completed in the 1880s, and a barbershop existed there in 1899. The latest I’ve found a trace of the barbershop at the hotel is 1947. I don’t think the two businesses are related, but the name may have been taken from the original establishment.
According to public records, 511-515 East Bethune last sold in 1993 for $18,700, or roughly $40K in 2022.
The signage on this building, in my opinion, is iconic. There are multiple photographs by Camilo J. Vergara in the Library of Congress Archives from 2014 and 2018. The barber’s poles are still visible in those photographs.
Given the demise of the east wall, this building will most likely have a date with the wrecking ball.
