James Scott Mansion, Detroit, Michigan
James Scott was a millionaire playboy who was not well liked by Detroit society. He had inherited his fathers real estate fortune and as for himself he was said to have not done any actual work in his entire life. According to a Detroit News article, "he was a loafer and a gambler. He told off-color stories. And he perpetrated vindictive practical jokes." When he died he donated $500,000 to the city with the stipulation that they use it to build a fountain and a statue of him on Belle isle. After years of debate, the fountain which was designed by Cass Gilbert was completed fifteen years after Scott's death.
Scott built this mansion just a block east of Woodward Avenue with a high wall on one side to obstruct a neighbors view. After he died in 1910, the mansion was converted to apartments. Rent is free these days.
The following is an Detroit News article that appeared less than one week after I took the above photograph.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Detroit
Body parts discovered in abandoned mansion
Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News
DETROIT --Police are investigating the discovery of body parts in a historic, abandoned building on Peterboro and Park Streets in the city's Cass Corridor area Friday.
The body parts did not include a torso or head, police said. It was not known how the person died.
The discovery was made by a homeless man in the neighborhood around 11 a.m. in an outside stairwell of the Scott Mansion.
The remains were tossed among garbage and old liquor bottles.
Friday's grisly discovery shocked Larry Brown, a longtime resident and homeowner on Peterboro.
"It's the first time I ever heard of something like this happening," said 55-year-old Brown. "Crime has gone down here."
The Cass Corridor has long had a reputation as a hard-luck neighborhood where poverty, prostitution and other crimes had been a way of life.
But in recent years, the area has started to enjoy a revival of sorts, with new restaurants and efforts to save many of the abandoned historic homes in the area just west of Woodward, near Comerica Park.
The now derelict Scott Mansion, a grey brick structure, was built by a wealthy and most eccentric bachelor, James Scott, who died at age 79 in 1910. Scott left $500,000 to the city to build the famous Scott Fountain on Belle Isle.
An autopsy on the human remains will be performed today by the Wayne County Medical Examiners Office.
Anyone with information should call Detroit police at (313) 596-2260.
You can reach Oralandar Brand-Williams at 313-222-2027 or bwilliams@detnews.com
* * *
Current status (2024): Restored as multi-unit housing.
James Scott Mansion, Detroit, Michigan
James Scott was a millionaire playboy who was not well liked by Detroit society. He had inherited his fathers real estate fortune and as for himself he was said to have not done any actual work in his entire life. According to a Detroit News article, "he was a loafer and a gambler. He told off-color stories. And he perpetrated vindictive practical jokes." When he died he donated $500,000 to the city with the stipulation that they use it to build a fountain and a statue of him on Belle isle. After years of debate, the fountain which was designed by Cass Gilbert was completed fifteen years after Scott's death.
Scott built this mansion just a block east of Woodward Avenue with a high wall on one side to obstruct a neighbors view. After he died in 1910, the mansion was converted to apartments. Rent is free these days.
The following is an Detroit News article that appeared less than one week after I took the above photograph.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Detroit
Body parts discovered in abandoned mansion
Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News
DETROIT --Police are investigating the discovery of body parts in a historic, abandoned building on Peterboro and Park Streets in the city's Cass Corridor area Friday.
The body parts did not include a torso or head, police said. It was not known how the person died.
The discovery was made by a homeless man in the neighborhood around 11 a.m. in an outside stairwell of the Scott Mansion.
The remains were tossed among garbage and old liquor bottles.
Friday's grisly discovery shocked Larry Brown, a longtime resident and homeowner on Peterboro.
"It's the first time I ever heard of something like this happening," said 55-year-old Brown. "Crime has gone down here."
The Cass Corridor has long had a reputation as a hard-luck neighborhood where poverty, prostitution and other crimes had been a way of life.
But in recent years, the area has started to enjoy a revival of sorts, with new restaurants and efforts to save many of the abandoned historic homes in the area just west of Woodward, near Comerica Park.
The now derelict Scott Mansion, a grey brick structure, was built by a wealthy and most eccentric bachelor, James Scott, who died at age 79 in 1910. Scott left $500,000 to the city to build the famous Scott Fountain on Belle Isle.
An autopsy on the human remains will be performed today by the Wayne County Medical Examiners Office.
Anyone with information should call Detroit police at (313) 596-2260.
You can reach Oralandar Brand-Williams at 313-222-2027 or bwilliams@detnews.com
* * *
Current status (2024): Restored as multi-unit housing.