2921 Michigan

Single Family Gut Rehab

Tower Grove East Neighborhood

2001 Homer Award Winner for Outstanding Total Renovation

HISTORY: The Christian Brown Flats
On November 24, 1894, Philip Betz was granted a building permit to build four two-story flats, at a total cost of $7,200. The addresses of the properties were listed as stretching from 2919 to 2927 Michigan. They were all designed and built by architect and contractor B. Grunnmeyer who lived a couple of blocks away on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Christian Brown, who had come to America from Germany in 1884, bought this property for himself and his family in the 1890s. According to the 1900 census, he was a foreman in a tobacco works. His wife Susanna came to join him later in 1884 bringing along their three children, John, Louisa and William. Though we don't know for sure, we believe the three adult children later lived in the second flat since records do not show it was rented out.

This project is funded in part by a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Community Development Agency under the Provisions of Title 1 of the Housing and Community Development Act 1974 (P.L. 93-838)Not much is known about the property except that if eventually fell onto hard times. Neglected and abandoned, it was purchased and renovated by Millennium in 2001. The original peaked roofline had long since crumbled away but by using similar houses in the neighborhood as their guide, Millennium's craftsmen were able to completely rebuild the cornice to its original late Victorian beauty.