Known more for its Motor City nickname, Detroit once had the title of Paris of the West, starting from its French settlers and secured by several notable chateau-inspired homes and art deco buildings.
Many of those structures were designed by architect Louis Kamper, who modeled his own 1915-built Detroit residence based on French revolutionist Marquis de Lafayette’s Parisian townhouse. It’s now on the market for $1.99 million.
Kamper is best known for notable Detroit buildings, such as the Italianate-style Book Tower, where there’s now a rooftop bar named after the architect, and Book-Cadillac Hotel, known today as the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit. French influence found its way in between his mostly Italianate designs, like the Eighth Precinct Police Station, a French castle lookalike.
Born in Germany, Kamper made his way to Detroit in 1888, when he took up his first commission for another French-inspired home, known as Hecker House, according to the Detroit Historical Society. He designed more than 100 buildings and homes in the city.
That house, located at 2150 Iroquois St., was built for Col. Frank J. Hecker in 1890, and the historical society notes it takes design notes from the Azay-le-Rideau chateau in France with faceted turrets, finials atop and limestone construction.
A Parisian home in Detroit
Kamper's former residence in Detroit's Indian Village neighborhood is 7,056 square feet with six bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. It hits the market after five years of renovations, said listing agent Nick Asplund of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate.
The mansion still retains plenty of original details. The sunroom has a hand-painted mint green ceiling with Zodiac signs and Grecian figures. There's a marble fireplace and staircase that complement the carved walnut paneling.
According to public records, Christopher Kaufman, the co-founder of streetwear online reselling site StockX, last purchased the home in 2019 for $1.15 million. Kaufman, a Detroit native, spent $800,000 on updates, said Asplund. Previous owners had restored the house, while Kaufman’s remodel shows what happens when millennials infuse their personal style.
The latest improvements include mechanical systems such as air conditioning, a whole-home generator and a new boiler for hot water. The home was also upgraded with a window and door restoration, a new roof, fence and gutters, and Viking appliances.
The third floor was taken from a ballroom to an expansive office suite and bourbon room with blue built-in millwork and gold patterned wallpaper on the ceiling, and a separate green-drenched lounge has a hanging chandelier and patterned ceiling.
Residence is located in a historic district
Indian Village has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. "It's one of the historic neighborhoods of Detroit," said Asplund. "All the homes are gorgeous, and a lot of them have been meticulously restored and preserved. It's a one-of-a-kind type area we still have in this country."
The neighborhood is noted for its Georgian Revival architecture, such as the Kamper-designed residence next door to his home, 2130 Iroquois St., or the nearby Arthur K. Barker House at 1443 Seminole St., also designed by Kamper.
According to Homes.com data, Kamper's mansion at 2150 Iroquois has a price per square foot of $283, compared to the neighborhood’s average of $180.
Most recently, an “opulent castle” by Kamper sold on the same street for $1.04 million in 2023, according to Homes.com data, a drop from the original listing price of $1.199 million. A nearly 15,000-square-foot Marie Antoinette-inspired mansion designed by Kamper sold in 2022 for $1.2 million, down from its listing price of $1.99 million. An art deco home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, by Kamper sold for $952,000 in 2019, at $228 per square foot.