This house was not only the home of famed Detroit historian Clarence Monroe Burton, but also the first home of the Burton Historical Collection. Appropriately, HistoricDetroit.org had to consult the files at the Burton Historical Collection in order to determine what happened to its former building.
It is unclear at this time when this home was built or who the original architect was. The house was already there when Burton moved his family into it in 1884. A Charles Gardiner lived at the address before him, but it is unclear whether it was the same house or not. There were a variety of other folks calling what was then-27 Brainard St. home before him.
In February 1894, Burton hired the architectural firm Varney & Co. to build a fireproof addition onto the home in order to house his collection of books, manuscripts and papers - all of which would form the backbone of the Burton Historical Collection.
At a Jan. 7, 1914, meeting of the Detroit Library Commission, Burton officially offered to donate his home on Brainard Street between Cass and Second avenues — packed to the rafters with some 30,000 books, 40,000 pamphlets and 500,000 unpublished papers — to the Detroit Public Library, forming the basis of the Burton Historical Collection. In a resolution dated March 16, 1914, the commission acknowledged Burton’s gift as a “rare instance of patriotism, unselfish devotion of scholarship and unprecedented private generosity to the Public Library of Detroit.”
The Burton Historical Collection would open in the house in September 1915 following a remodeling effort that saw the first floor turned into a reading room and administrative offices, a room on the second set aside as a historical museum, and stacks throughout along with adjacent study rooms. This was a reference and research library, meaning that the books and manuscripts could be viewed by the public, but could not be checked out.
"It has been said that no researcher working in any field of Americana can complete his work without consulting Detroit's Burton Collection," The Detroit News wrote Dec. 6, 1971.
But even as the library prepared to open its new branch, it was already known that it would not be open for long. Ground had been broken for a massive new main branch on Woodward Avenue in January 1915, eight months before the Burton first opened on Brainard. But the library would be a slow-go, and would not be formally dedicated until June 3, 1921.
The Burton Collection closed on Brainard in early 1921, and on Feb. 7, 1921, the Detroit Public Library began to pack up the collection to prepare for the move. Each book and manuscript was said to be carefully packed and given a number to protect it and ensure they made it to their new home.
After the collection moved to the main library, the house apparently wound up back in Burton's ownership. On Sept. 6, 1932, Burton pulled a permit to turn it into a rooming house. He died a month later. It's unclear whether his family continued to lease the home or sold it following his passing, but in 1934, the house was turned into the Green Gardens, a beer garden that offered "choice beer" and "good food," as well as dancing.
In the 1940s and '50s, the house went back to being used as a house, with a Dec. 16, 1957, permit issued to turn it into nine apartments.
On June 6, 1961, a demolition permit was pulled for the house, and another one followed on Nov. 5, 1962, to raze a "storage facility" on the property, which was most likely Burton's library addition. It is unclear why the building was demolished.
The site of the Burton house - 473 Brainard St. - was combined with 469 Brainard at some point, and as of March 2017, the land was a well-maintained green space owned by Simply Well Communities LLC.
More on this building coming soon.