608-610 West End Street
Nagy Home, Nagy Tailoring
I’ve always admired this little structure. Considering its small size, I wasn’t too shocked to find a microscopic amount of information about it online. It’s a small home with an even smaller storefront attached; I believe the house was built first, around 1905, with the storefront coming a little over a decade later.
The storefront’s facade has engraved initials ‘J K’ on it and the year 1919. The exterior has been painted blue since the advent of Google Street View, which looks tattered, but the structure is taken care of.
By 1944, the Nagy family lived here. Joseph Nagy, his wife Irene, and three kids, Joseph, Arthur, and Marian, all called it home.
In June that year, Marian, 16, was struck by a train at Fort and Green. She and her friend Julia Kovach were returning from their school initiation at Southwestern High when they ducked under the rail barriers at the train crossing. The Detroit Free Press reported that Julia had a fractured skull but didn’t disclose Marian’s injuries. She would later marry and be listed in an obituary as Marian McManus.
Mr. Nagy passed away in July 1970 at 77 years old. When he died, the family still lived at 608 West End. His obituary read that he had been a custom tailor for 50 years and served as a branch manager of the American Life Insurance Company.
I have found no record of it, but I assume the storefront housed Mr. Nagy’s tailoring operation. It seems the perfect size for such a business, and it would be easy to carry out his work there.
After the Nagy family sold it, I’m unsure what happened to the property. It’s been owned by the same person since 1986. As stated previously, it is maintained, even if it doesn’t appear to be lived in.
Activating small spaces like this in Delray is a tough ask, especially for businesses that rely on foot traffic. However, it would make a great live-in studio space for a tradesperson or artist. Who knows—maybe the current owner has plans for it already.
Either way, it’s great to see this one still standing.
