Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building
About this property
The Gabriel Richard Building, also known as the Weil and Company Building, is high-rise located at 305 Michigan Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. The building will open as a residential apartment building known as the Gabriel Houze in late 2017. In 1897, Moe C Weil moved from Cincinnati to Detroit and opened a furniture store known as Weil and Company. Their first store was downtown on Woodward Avenue. In 1914, Weil entered into an agreement with David Stott and the Stott Realty Company to lease this building, which Stott would construct specifically for their use. Stott hired the Chicago architecture firm of Marshall & Fox to design the building. Construction began in 1914, and was completed in 1915. Weil and Company opened their new store in this building in November 1915. The Stott Realty Company retained ownership, with Weil leasing the building. Moe Weil died in 1920, leaving the store to his wife Hattie. Hattie died in 1930 and left the company to her son Victor and daughter Florence, with the stipulation that Victor continue to run the business. Victor, however, died in 1943 while serving in the United States Air Corps, and Weil and Company soon went out of business. In 1945, the Stott Realty Company sold the building to the nearby St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church. The church renamed the building the Gabriel Richard Building, after pioneering Detroiter Father Gabriel Richard. In 1948, the church turned the building over to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit for use as offices. The church was in an expansion phase after World War II, growing from 800,000 Catholics in 1945 to 1.3 million in 1960. The Catholic Family Center was one of the first organizations located in the Gabriel Richard building, and much of the remainder of the building was leased to other secular tenants, including a credit association, law office, and Michigan Bell Telephone. As the Archdiocese grew, the number of Catholic offices in the building increased until by 1968 the Archdiocese occupied all of the upper floors, including the Parish Life and Services Department, Christian Services Department, Catholic Youth Organization, the Communications Department, and the Information Technology Department. In 1976, the building became home to the Catholic High School League Hall of Fame, and it came to be home to a television studio in the 1980s. However, the number of Catholics declined starting in the 1970s, and in 2015 the Archdiocese moved its offices to a smaller building and sold the Gabriel Richard Building. Developer Joe Barbat purchased the building. Barbat plans to undertake a $6.5 million renovation to turn the building into about 110 multifamily residential units. The building will open as a residential apartment building known as the 'Gabriel Houze in late 2017.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building listed on the National Register?
Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 31, 2017.
What type of historic resource is Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building?
Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building?
The period of significance for Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building is recorded as the industrial era.
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Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Weil and Company-Gabriel Richard Building will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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