Hotel Stevenson
Milner Arms Apartments
40 Davenport near Orchestra Hall in Detroit
Charles Hugh Stevenson founded the Davenport Realty firm in Detroit. In addition to his business interests, Stevenson was a lawyer and writer who spent time and effort promoting closer ties between the United States and France. In both 1900 and 1909, he participated in international conventions in Paris and was awarded prizes by the French Government for encouraging Franco-American neighborliness.
The Stevenson firm built this large hotel on Davenport between Woodward and Cass. It is an apartment hotel, meaning that rather than providing rooms for travelers, it provided efficiencies and small apartments with cooking facilities for people who were going to reside in Detroit for some time, but probably not permanently. After about 1910, vehicle production escalated in Detroit so many men left the rural Midwest and took the hard jobs then open in Detroit's manufacturing plants. Many men came to cities such as Detroit without families or, after working in the city for some time, encouraged their spouses and children to come to the Motor City. In the meantime, these men were ideal clients for residential hotels such as the Stevenson. Men could live in this hotel and take a Woodward Avenue streetcar to the many plants in the city's Milwaukee Junction manufacturing center or to Henry Ford's Highland Park plant.
Architect: Unknown to me.
Architectural Style: Elements of the Colonial Revival style are evident.
Date of Completion: 1915
Use in 2003: Apartment Hotel
City of Detroit Local Historic District: Not listed
State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites: Not listed
National Registry of Historic Sites: Listed September
22, 1997
Photo: Ren Farley; August, 2003