A Private Thoroughfare: The Gates of Beverly Road

Usually when you pass by Goliath brick walls and wrought iron gates, you're passing a piece of history.  Most of the mega-mansions are gone, and so the only sign left of their former grandeur is the walls that were erected to protect the privacy of the owners that resided within, much like the gates of Rose Terrace.

There is a set of gates, however, that were not built to surround a single home or a vast estate.  These are the gates of Beverly Road, and they were built specifically to protect the private thoroughfare—one of the first subdivisions of Grosse Pointe. 

The gates of Beverly Road are special for a few reasons.  First, they were designed by the notable architect Albert Kahn.  Kahn, who was particularly fond of floral motifs, designed extremely intricate gates of Beverly Road—detailed scrollwork and floral and leafy patterns that made the gates more like a piece of artwork than a functional element.

These gates also became part of the landscape as Grosse Pointe was changing from a farming community to a luxury suburb—a time period hard to specifically pinpoint by exact dates.  The development of the Beverly Road private subdivision is one important key to unlocking the time frame, however.

According to Suzy Berschback and Madeleine Socia in their recent work, Grosse Pointe: 1880-1930, the gates may have been built around 1907. An image in the book dates a few years later.  If you look very closely through the gates in the historic image, on the right-hand side you will see one of the homes on the street already built: a Spanish-style stucco home that is now 28 Beverly.  Records variously place the date of construction of 28 Beverly between 1911-1914.  Additionally, 24 Beverly, which is the first home nearest the gates on the right (and which is absent in the photo), was built in 1916.

That means that photo more appropriately dates a little later—sometime between 1912 and 1916. 

Beverly Road, which is now a historic district, is tucked between the bustling Jefferson Avenue and Grosse Pointe Boulevard across from . 

Much of the ornamental details that topped the gates of Beverly Road are now gone.  If you compare the now century-old photograph with some current photos, you can see the changes.  The large ornamental spheres on two of the stone columns that appear to be lights have been removed.  Additionally, the towering scrollwork is gone.  Does anyone know what prompted the modification of the gates?  Or roughly when they were modified?  

I’ve also always wondered when the street was closed at Lake Shore Road.  If there are any life-long Pointers out there who know, please share.