Country Club of Detroit

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ABOUT THE CLUB "In the lives of most members, the Country Club of Detroit holds a special place. In a setting of inordinate beauty, it has the ability to brighten one's spirit on a glorious fall day or urge one to outdoor activity when the flowers first appear in spring. But the majestic building and its expansive grounds are only the housing for something more important: the fellowship of friends who congregate here." Eugene A. Gargaro, Jr. Past President It was unseasonably cold, in the low 40's, when eight of the city's business elite walked or drove their horse-drawn carriages to the Detroit Club on October 1, 1897. The men who gathered for lunch in that convivial environment were an eclectic group: manufacturers of freight cars, spring steel, stoves, varnish and steam boilers; two railroad lawyers; and the owner of Detroit's first skyscraper. They had come together to found the Country Club of Detroit, intending to take over an existing clubhouse on Lake St. Clair in the Village of Grosse Pointe Farms. Passion for golf drove them. Introduced to Grosse Pointe just four years earlier, the game was growing in popularity. By earlier agreement with five others, the group agreed this day to form the club with all 13 as its board of governors and attorney Henry Russell as chairman. The first home of the Country Club of Detroit, with some updating, was the same clubhouse Mr. Farmer described in his 1886 book about Grosse Pointe. In it he provided details of the Grosse Pointe Club building designed by architect W.E. Brown. “The Club House is 100x140 feet in size, with a kitchen wing next to the west side...The main approach is through a Porte cohere fronting the road which leads to a deep loggia 12x30 feet in size," said Mr. Farmer. "This gives entrance to the main hall fifteen feet wide, which extends through the building and ends in a loggia 16x30 feet in size on the lake front of the building." In 1905, members voted to buy the lakefront grounds and build a new clubhouse. Their facility, now 19 years old, needed extensive repairs. Albert Kahn, the city's preeminent architect, went to work. The old building was razed and construction began on the new clubhouse in 1906. Mr. Kahn's creation was admired by W. Hawkins Ferry in his book The Buildings of Detroit: "Without indulging in the pretentious or the falsely picturesque, he was able to combine monumental simplicity with informal charm." The new four-story clubhouse opened on May 30, 1907. "Early in the morning automobiles began to arrive and by noon hundreds were lined up in front of the clubhouse. "Gay crowds all on pleasure bent filled the grounds and building," reported the Detroit News. "Golf, boat racing, tennis, baseball and several other sports were on the list." The clubhouse had 20 single bedrooms and similar number of guest rooms with a bath for every two rooms. The Country Club of Detroit was growing quickly---one year after the new clubhouse opened, membership reached 536. As a demand for land rose, it became clear that the club must own its golf course or run the risk of losing it subdivision by subdivision.

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