Stroh house in Grosse Pointe still has its Prohibition-era trap door

Judy Rose | Special to the Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption stroh-grosse-point-house Beautiful Georgian colonial home built by Bernard Stroh Jr. is 100 years old and in very fine condition.

Bernard Stroh Jr. designed many details in this stately Georgian colonial house. That includes the beautiful stairs that curve between floors and stop on checkerboard marble. It includes the tall round wall stacked with leaded glass that wraps around the stairs.

“My father was an artist,” said his daughter Joanne Sibley, who was 1 year old when her parents moved in. She had revisited her family home last spring and talked with its current owners. Now 101, Sibley spoke on the phone this week. “He had a lot to do with planning (the house and its site).”

Stroh Jr. was son and successor to Bernard Stroh Sr., founder of the Detroit brewery. At 100 years old this year, this house is part of Detroit history, the current owner noted. The home even includes a trap door cut into the living room floor — the better to whisk away evidence during Prohibition.

This is a beautiful house — big, open rooms for its era, sunny and well cared for. And the price is under $1 million. That’s $5 less, at $999,995.

The most striking spot is the curving main staircase, beautiful from both the first and second floors. Wrapped around its outer sweep are curving woodwork and tall, curving windows. These are made from hundreds of small panes of frosted, leaded glass. A curving wrought-iron railing follows the other side. A crystal chandelier hangs down through it all.

Stroh’s vision was for fewer, larger rooms, a preference that’s common today. So the large main floor has only four primary rooms. They are the living room and large family room, which make one long sweep from the front of the house to the back, divided only by French doors, the long kitchen that sweeps across the back of one wing and finally the dining room.

That’s not because some recent rehabber came in and knocked down walls. It’s because Bernard Stroh Jr. wanted it that way. The firm Esselstyn, Murphy and Hanford served as architect.

The broad, symmetrical house sits on two wide lots that take up one block of Rivard in Grosse Pointe

The inside is richly trimmed with ornamental plasterwork, in some places painted like wood. In main rooms it’s stacked 14 to 16 inches deep.

The expansive kitchen has been redone with granite, stainless steel and new appliances. It stretches from a fireplace wall at one end to lockers and a mud room at the other.

The owners’ suite has a large corner sleeping room with windows on two sides. Its bathroom is large and flashy with ornamental mosaic tile and stone tile. It has obviously been completely remodeled by a previous owner.

It has a steam shower, a Jacuzzi tub, two sinks, a toilet room and large built-in cabinets.

A big, bright laundry room with cabinets and butcher-block counters is also on the second floor. From here wide stairs go up to an open third floor the owners call the guest room. This has knotty-pine walls, gabled ceilings, two sleeping nooks, a full bath, a cedar closet and an area for kids’ games.

Stroh house on Rivard

Where: 487 Rivard, Grosse Pointe

How much: $999,995

Bedrooms: 6

Baths: 4 full, 1 half

Square feet: 6,299

Key features: Beautiful Georgian colonial home built by Bernard Stroh Jr. is 100 years old and in very fine condition. Large, sunny rooms, great uncomplicated floor plan, front yard a block long.

Contact: Michelle Agosta, Higby Maxon Agney Inc., 248-762-9634.