Behind some of the Historic District homes are garages or outbuildings of a similar vintage – the late 1800s, early 1900s. Many didn’t start out as conventional garages but became a place to park the new mode of transportation by the 1920s. Others were used for different purposes, including storing a delivery truck for a family-owned business, giving an old kitchen new life, and providing extra housing. All of the garages (and the Carters’ carriage house) described below are designated as contributing structures to the history of Northville in the Historic District Survey, compiled by Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc.
Renovated with relevance
Behind 536 W. Main, the home of John and Liz Carter, is a unique carriage house. It once served as the spot that a former resident and owner of the Knapp General Store in Northville kept his delivery wagon, which he would load up with items from his store for deliveries around town. Think early Amazon. The approximately 750 ft2, two-story structure was refinished in the 1990s by a previous owner. When you look at the structure from the driveway, you see big barn doors, which are the original doors. Once you’re inside the building, you don’t see the barn doors because they’ve been covered over with wood paneling to provide a full wall inside. The main entrance is a single door on the east side. The first floor contains a cozy living area with seating and a pool table. It serves as a game room and home office. A steep staircase hugs the interior west wall and leads to a loft-style second floor that has a bedroom and bathroom. It was a great space for John during the height of COVID when working from home was the norm. “It’s a magical bonus space,” Liz said.
Repurposed
How does a kitchen turn into a garage? That’s the interesting history of the large structure in back of the Barry’s house at 239 High St. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the kitchen was located on the north side of the original home. It was built adjacent to the main house as a safety feature. In case of fire, it was believed that damage would be confined to only that section without spreading throughout the entire house. In the early 1900s, that kitchen was removed from the house and installed on the back of the property off West St. to become a garage. The replacement kitchen was a 1/2 story structure attached to the 2-story south side.
Wood sliding doors were added to the former kitchen after the structure was moved. The Barry’s replaced the vehicle entrance doors with new electronic standard doors. Instead of getting rid of the sliding doors, they set them up inside the garage, along the front east and west walls. They can be reactivated if a future owner prefers the historic look over modern efficiency. The original single side entrance door of the garage faces the back of the house. The weathered wood and hand-tooled handles are well-worn but are also a beautiful piece of history.
In the past, the home and property were designated a Centennial Farm – having been owned by the same farming family for more than 100 years. Icons from the homestead’s farming history are embedded into the backyard. An oxbow holds a place of prominence, centered over the garage doors A portion of the former barn’s foundation still stands as a long curb. To bring it into the present, the relic forms the back edge of one of the gardens.
Used as shelters
The home of Ray Bailey and AnnaMaryLee Vollick has a long, deep backyard. At one point, there were two outbuildings. One was a nondescript cottage-style structure behind the garage. The other was larger, with clapboard siding, an asphalt roof and fieldstone chimney. Bailey notes, “A neighbor let us know that a fire happened to the larger of the two homes (the one with the fireplace), which led to its ultimate demolition. The foundation is still there for both homes. As to their purpose, we can only speculate what they were used for, but with heat and water, they certainly seemed fit to live in.”
City records show the cottage (called a shed in the paperwork) was never finished. It backed up to a large forested area and animals were living inside and underneath the structure. Because the yard was not fenced in, it was accessible to neighbors’ kids and anyone else. On April 17, 2019, The Historic District Commission approved the demolition.
The household still has its original garage with two bays.
Classic garage weathers the elements
The Craftsman house at 223 Linden has a garage that mirrors that style and has two carriage-style front doors on one of the three bays. The garage is covered by a hip roof that presents a low profile. Inside, the ceiling is only about 7 feet tall, yet it’s spacious and easily holds two vehicles in the larger bays. The third bay is used as a workshop and for storing outdoor equipment. Two single-pane windows brighten up the interior. The walls inside are wood but the wall near the third bay is stone stucco (the same material as the house exterior), which indicates the third bay may have been built at a different time. Yet, the garage’s shiplap exterior doesn’t have any gaps that would indicate it was an addition. It remains a mystery to owners Leanie Bayly and Robert Sochacki. Bayly notes that the width of shiplap used is no longer available, therefore a substitute would be needed for future exterior repairs. (This is a good example of why the Historic District design guidelines are being updated by the city ¬– it will present alternative options to obsolete materials.)
Previous owners had reinforced the supporting joists inside the garage when the building started to sag, a neighbor who helped with that project told Bayly. They also poured a concrete pad to create a new foundation. The garage is likely to last another 100 years, with its solid construction and reinforcement.
The Historic District Survey (Vol. II) indicates that each of the garages described above, “first appears in the 1942 Sanborn map.1358 It appears to maintain integrity of design, materials, location, setting, feeling, and association and is recommended as a contributing resource to the Northville Historic District.”
Neither of the outbuildings at the Bailey residence were standing when the survey was done. The cabin-style structure was not deemed of historic significance when it was demolished.
Photos by Liz Cezat. Shed/housing photos
provided by Ray Bailey. Hover over photo for captions.
