Walbri Hall
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Walbri Hall | |
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 Interactive map showing the location of Walbri Hall | |
| Location | 3570 Walbri Dr. Bloomfield Hills, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°35′20″N 83°13′24″W / 42.58889°N 83.22333°W |
| Area | 2.71 acres |
| Built | 1925 |
| Architect | Charles Kotting |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 100007209[1] |
| Added to NRHP | January 6, 2022 |
Walbri Hall is the main house of a former country estate, built for Detroit industrialist (and Detroit Tigers owner) Walter O. Briggs. The house is located at 3570 Walbri Drive in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.[1]
In the early 1900s, Bloomfield Hills became the home of many affluent families from nearby Detroit. In the early 1920s, Walter O. Briggs, owner of Briggs Manufacturing Company, purchased 67 acres in Bloomfield Hills for his country estate. He retained Charles Kotting to design residential buildings on the estate. Kotting had previously designed Brigg's mansion in the Boston-Edison neighborhood in Detroit. Walbri Hall (named using the first three letters of Walter Briggs's first and last names) was completed in 1925. Briggs and his family used the house as a summer estate, and Briggs also hosted social and business functions there.[2]
After Briggs died in 1952, his children inherited the estate. They subdivided the acreage, part of which now houses the Sacred Heart Academy school in Bloomfield Hills. This left a little over 2-1/2 acres surrounding Walbri Hall, with over a 100-foot rolling backyard drop to a 15-acre lake. The home is over 10,000 sq. ft. with a 40 ft. high, 2200 sq. ft. great hall, containing a cantilevered balcony made of German oak that housed a beautiful library. The home has hosted many prominent events through the years, including the 1982 Michigan Republican Gubernatorial debate. The building itself went through a succession of owners, including Dr. Ben and Audrey Weinberg, a local interior designer and dentist who bought and renovated the home in 1975 and then Wilhelm Kast, a renowned Michigan entrepreneur who also owned American Spoon Foods. It was subsequently purchased and beautifully renovated again by the present owners, James and Olga Mackenzie, in 2011.[2]
