8544 Grand River Avenue
The Dumbarton Building, Investment Properties Company, Le Fevre Engineering Co.
The Dumbarton Building at 8544 Grand River Avenue was constructed in 1928. It was named after the adjacent street—which was once called Dumbarton Street. It was built in 1928 for the Investment Properties Company and was designed by famed Detroit-based architect Albert Kahn.
In 1929, a financial company called the Household Small Loan Company occupied a portion of the second floor. In the early 1930s, the Household Finance Corporation of America also had an office on the second floor. At some time before 1941, Birchy Bros Realty moved into the property and ran newspaper advertisements for the businesses and properties they were trying to sell. Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, many engineering companies were here, namely Le Fevre Engineering Co., Advance Machine & Engineering Co., and Gammon Engineering. Throughout the 1950s, a bible sales company within the Dumbarton Building sold King James and Catholic bibles and had a large team of salesmen and women.
Most of the businesses I’ve been able to find within the Dumbarton Building were insurance agencies and engineering companies, but there were a few random others, too. There may have been a TV Production studio inside in the late 1960s, but I can’t confirm that. After the 1960s, I haven’t found much information about the building.
The building’s namesake, Dumbarton Street, was most likely named after the city of Dumbarton in Scotland.
At one time, Dumbarton Street had to be one of the most densely populated streets in Petoskey-Otsego due to the large number of apartment buildings that lined the street between Grand River and Quincy. An aerial image from 1949 shows at least 11 multi-story apartment buildings on Dumbarton, with vacant lots that illustrate that there were at one time as many as 16.
Dumbarton Street was renamed Heritage Place sometime after 1980. Heritage Park Townhomes don’t house nearly as many people as the vast apartment complexes once did but appear to be at capacity. Only two historic apartment complexes are left on the street—one crumbling away and another currently undergoing renovation.
Today, the Dumbarton Building has a massive appearance. It’s one of the few structures left on that stretch of Grand River Avenue, and a small portion of the building still operates as a liquor store, although it isn’t often open. There’s a small suite that was once a clothing store—which eventually turned into Michigan Tax Wizard and has since shuttered.
This section of Grand River Avenue was hit hard by the rebellion in 1967. Looking around from the Dumbarton Building, it’s hard to imagine what once was on this stretch of road. Each vacant lot was at one time a building with a business inside.
The building is owned by Raki & Rommel Real Estate—they purchased it in 2007 for $130,000. Their upkeep scheme for the structure is hard to understand. Roughly two-thirds of the building has fresh paint, and artificial mahogany pillars painted on the facade, while the other one-third is much more tattered. There hasn’t been an operating business in the ragged half since the current owners purchased it, so their plan may be to only bring the portion with rentals up to code. Either way, it’s unique looking, to say the least.
In March 2015, the Detroit Land Bank began demolishing 8522 Grand River, the building on the southeast side of the Dumbarton Building. In the process, they also demolished a small portion of the Dumbarton Building by mistake. 8522 Grand River had been damaged by fire and left to decay for nearly a decade. Raki & Rommel Real Estate sued the Land Bank and Able Construction Inc., the demolition company that made the mistake.
The address remains on the main entryway to the building, and if you squint, you can find where ‘Dumbarton Building’ was once lettered. All of the windows have been covered with wood and painted. The cornice suggests that there may have, at one time, been more ornament on the facade, but if this is the case, sadly, it’s long gone.
I live down the street from the Dumbarton Building and have always been curious about its history but never took the time to photograph or dive into it. These photographs were taken on November 4, 2022.
