| Highland Ghost Hunters Journal |
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| 10-6-07 & 3-8-08 |
| Joint-Investigations with HGH and Haunted Travels |
| ~THE WHITNEY~ Detroit, MI |
| Main Journal Page |
| General History
Excerpts of an article that first ran in Volume 89 Issue 5 of the DAC NEWS: In the late 1800s, when lumber baron and millionaire David Whitney Jr. took a break from business and looked out the window of his office in his Woodward Avenue mansion, he surveyed a sight that warmed his heart – the playing fields of the original Detroit Athletic Club. The location of the Whitney mansion near the grounds of the DAC was no accident. Whitney and his son, David C. Whitney, were both members of the original DAC, whose grounds are now a part of Wayne State University. “Its bleachers ran along the southern edge of Whitney’s property line, affording the family a bird’s-eye view of track and field events from the second-story balcony,” according to a 1978 article in the Detroit Free Press, including baseball games and polo matches in the summer, and hockey and skating in the winter. Today, the building has been transformed into one of Detroit’s finest restaurants, "The Whitney – An American restaurant in an American Palace." Around the turn of the century, that part of Woodward Avenue was millionaire’s row lined with beautiful mansions. The Whitney is the last real piece of that kind of architecture in the city. Its magnificent architecture shows a real understanding of the era in which it was built. Both the house and the man represent a significant level of success and achievement in pre-automotive Detroit. Whitney built the opulent family home that still stands on Woodward and Canfield between 1890 and 1894, at a cost of $400,000. Designed by architect Gordon W. Lloyd, who built many residences and churches in and around Detroit, the 22,000 square-foot Romanesque Revival mansion originally had 52 rooms, including 10 bathrooms, 218 windows, 20 fireplaces and a hydraulic elevator. The structure is built of South Dakota jasper, a rare variety of pink granite, and many of the rooms are decorated with marble, onyx and elaborate hand-carved woodwork. Polished japer columns support multiple arches, and Tiffany stained-glass windows illuminate the interior. The Whitney’s spent an additional $250,000 on decorating and furnishing their majestic Victorian home and another $300,000 on art treasures displayed throughout the mansion. This info is located on the Whitney Restaurant's website at: TheWhitney.com, please visit! |
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