House History:

-The property was owned by John Jeffry in the teens and ‘20’s as an 80 acre parcel. (Probably why the ~5 acre pond in the front is called Jeffries Lake)

-In April of 1929, Mr. Jeffries executors sold the parcel to Charles Breyman.

-The house was constructed in 1931, most likely by Mr. Breyman.

-Mr. Breyman still owned the property in 1938 and had purchased additional acreage, expanding it to 160 acres.

-In the 1940’s, the property was owned by Cyrus Camp, who had apparently purchased more land, all the way around Jeffries Lake. Mr. camp apparently rented out the structure as a vacation getaway. The current homeowner has a brochure advertizing the house to potential renters.

-At some point , Alex Karras, former Detroit Lion and star of the T.V. show “Webster” purchased the house. We don’t know if Alex actually lived there, but we have had confirmation from locals that his ex-wife and daughter did. The current homeowner speculates that the house may have been part of a divorce settlement.

-In the 1960’s, the home was bought by Forrest Haskell, author of the book “The Magnetic Mansion”.

-The Southeast Michigan Ghost Hunters did survey the house at some point for evidence of the metaphysical.

-The house passed through several more owners, fell into disrepair, eventually became a rental again, then spent an unknown number of years unoccupied and flooded.

-The house did have 3 “hidden” areas and a number of structural oddities. The house does almost seem to be constructed and placed defensively, as if to repel an attack.

Now, the stories and rumors about the house abound…every local has a tidbit about the house to share. Some of the rumors likely took root from Mr. Haskell’s book, others may have evolved from local gossip, but who knows? As the saying goes, where there’s smoke there’s fire. The more pervasive rumors are as follows.

-The house was built by the Purple Gang as a hideout/roadhouse.

-The house was built by the Knights  of Zion.

-Al Capone slept there/Al Capone built the house.

-The house is haunted/people buried there/money hidden there.

-The water there is tainted and drove people/horses insane.

-The house was struck by lightning. (there is some possible structural evidence to support this one)

 (And more, I’m sure…)

List of work completed:

-Demolition and removal of more than 160 cubic yards of water damaged interior surfaces

-Removal and replacement of roof systems

-New gutter system with subsurface drainage

-Excavation, repair and waterproofing of accessible exterior basement walls

-Pool and underground fuel tank removal

-New concrete sidewalks with cut pattern

-Masonry repair

-Exterior trim repair

-Exterior painting

-Site re-grading and sod

-Replacement of over 180 broken panes of glass, reglazing and restoration of window exteriors

-Reconstruction of interior window hardware, rebuilding of original screens

-New electrical service throughout house (using antique fixtures, including many original to the house)

-New plumbing  service throughout house (re-using original fixtures where possible)

-2 new high efficiency heating and air conditioning systems, one for each level of the house

-Interior framing repair including structural stabilization

-new insulation- with a foam barrier layer followed with cellulose

-All new drywall

-Interior painting

-Mostly new interior douglas fir stained trim throughout house, re-using original where possible

-New oak cabinets and appliances

-New soapstone countertops

-Refinishing of original floors

-Cement stucco added to basement walls

-New slate tile floor

-New 16000s.f. asphalt driveway

-And more!

Remaining to be completed:

-Refinishing of original interior doors

-Repair of existing tile

-New tile backsplash (update: DONE!)

-Exterior landscaping (update: DONE!)

Additional information

Type of project: residential complete restoration

Building size: estimated 3600 s.f.

Building age: 80 years

Building Style: Tudor revival

History of use: see house history above.