December 12, 1928

Mary Gasperik Legacy Project; Detroit News Quilt History Project; Michigan State University Museum; Susan Salser

Detroit, Michigan, United States

A column from the Interior Decoration Department home series describing the Magnolia house.

Larger Living Room for Size of House
Located on Southfield Road Between Eight and Nine Mile in Magnolia Subdivision. Open Today.
By Edith B. Crumb (Interior Decoration Department)
Here is a house that immediately radiates friendliness with its suggestion of welcome in the advancement of the entrance beyond the front wall line. Moreover the tall brick chimney promises a deeply recessed fireplace which will do its bit to cheer on winter evenings.

And there is a variety here, too, as shown in the grouping of the widows and the change from brick on the first story to antique paneled stucco on the second story, with its English trim.

Placing the stairway at the at the rear of the house provides a considerable larger living room than is usually found in homes of this dimension and it also makes available every foot of floor space for living purpose. The same arrangement reduces the hallway space on the second floor to the minimum.

This is the fourth of a series of model houses being presented by The Detroit News Home Building department in connection with a number of the leading subdivides of Detroit. IT is located on Magnolia Parkway in the Hannan Real Estate Exchange Magnolia subdivision on Southfield Road. The house is in the eastern section of the subdivision with a paved street leading to it.
This home is open for a thorough inspection by those who are interested in a house of this style and size.
Here is a decoration and furnishing suggestion that could be carried out in this home that would tend to make it harmonious in exterior and interior.

Living Room: Woodwork, walnut finish, walls, rough plaster surface in an antique parchment color, floor covering, medium green Wilton made to cover the floor entirely up the show molding, glass curtains ecru French marquisette, over draperies green ground cretonne with Jacobean design in copper rep piped in green a pair of extra pillows to be covered in copper ground glazed chintz easy chair in a striped frieze with green predominating circular topped table (approximately 30 inches across the top) a pair of end tables, magazine rack and...

...table with skirt of blue organdie over blue Stateen, Martha Washington sewing table, Windsor armchair and small foot stool covered in cross stitched needle point covers for chest of drawers and dressing table to be of cream or white linen finished with a narrow crocheted edge bedspread, patchwork quilt in blue and white, electric fixtures to be equipped with small flowered chintz shades.

A Detroit News Model Home in Magnolia
A 500 Acre Protected Community of Homes Southfield Rd Between Eight and Nine mile Roads
An exhilarating game of tennis. A vigorous canters over bridge paths that lead deep into a country of hills and lakes. A starlit evening of skating. A round of golf, nine holes or so in the early morn at any one of a dozen nearby clubs.
This is Magnolia, the site selected for Today's Detroit News Model Home The Magnolia
Drive out now and see this delightful new English residence. Drive through the great Southfield Park district, a huge protected residential area of 21 square miles.

The home you'll see is a strikingly new creation in English architecture. Designed by Miller Storm, and built according to their famous Gold Seal specification, it is indeed an architectural achievement of rare distinction. There is a pleasing newness about its beautiful exterior of colored rug brick, its picturesque half timbered gables, and its sharp sloping Old English roof. And inside, too, is a charming not of individuality in its artistic hand tinted walls, its hand decorated radiators, its novel brick fringed fireplace, its scores of fascinating features.

The Detroit News model is indeed a fit companion for the many attractive new home which now line the broad, stone surfaced drives of Magnolia. Immediately will you appraise it as a figure far grater than the modest sum for which it can be duplicated on your lot: Only $12,700 financed, including a two car garage.
Magnolia comprises 500 acres in Southfield Park. Thus is it doubly protected: First, by the restrictions of this entire district of 21 square miles, Second, by its own careful Hannan planned restrictions which offers absolute protection against the unwarranted encroachment of business or industry.

The property borders FIVE important thoroughfares, Southfield Road, Eight Mile Road, and Northwestern Highway ( all super highway) and Nine Mile and Division Roads. Over these wide ribbons the downtown business section and from Detroit great industrial West Side.

Magnolia is also remarkably well located with regard to recreational, and educational facilities. On the property itself and numerous community parks for tennis and other diversions; also the Magnolia Riding Club. Right next door is the polo field on Nine Mile Road. Within a ten minute drive are 25 popular golf courses the Detroit Riding and Hunt Club the lakes and playground of Bloomfield Hills, Mary grove College, University of Detroit, Franciscan College, and the new Thomas Colley High School.

You are cordially invited to visit Magnolia and its Detroit News Model Home today or any day this week. The home will be heated and open for your inspection from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Building experts will be on hand to answer any questions.

Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.