BY LARRY SOBCZAK
EDITOR
Another historic home in the Romeo area may be on the chopping block.
A developer is proposing building 10 condominium units on a five acre parcel located at 156 West Gates Street in Bruce Township where the John Mellen House currently sits.
“We could lose a real architectural and historical gem,” said Richard Beringer Trustee and Museum Curator at the Romeo Historical Society.
The Victorian era Italianate home was built in 1869 and sits just across the street from the Romeo Village limits.
“It is in fabulous condition,” Beringer said.
Sketches submitted to the Bruce Township Planning Commission by developer Damiano DiMercurio of Dilusso Building Company do not show the existing home incorporated into the proposed development.
The sketches show five duplex style buildings similar to the existing Deer Park Condominiums which are due east of the proposed development.
In order to for the condominiums to be built, the property would need to be rezoned from single family residential to multiple family residential.
The Bruce Township Planning Commission is scheduled to hear the rezoning request at 7 p.m., tonight, April 11 at the township hall at 223 East Gates Street.
The planning commission will hold a hearing to get public input about the rezoning request.
The property is currently owned by Shirley Peetsch with her son, Keith, acting with power of attorney.
The four bedroom and two bathroom house is nearly 3,000 square feet and it is listed for sale at $349,000 according to the website Zillow.com. The sale is in pending status.
The home’s original builder in 1869 was not only a member of a prominent Romeo area pioneer family but also a Democratic Michigan State Senator in the 1870s and a surveyor that helped open vast areas of the United States to settlement.
“He was known locally as the adventurer in the Mellen family,” Beringer said.
Mellen participated in surveying the Upper Peninsula, Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as the Dakota territories. He also surveyed parts of northern California, Washington and Oregon.
In 1878, he was one of the backers of The Romeo Carriage Company which produced more than 2,000 vehicles per year at three large buildings in downtown Romeo.
The Mellen family had moved to northern Macomb County in 1837 from Upstate New York. John Mellen’s brother, Harvey, owned successful lumber businesses in Lapeer and Ostego counties and had built the considerably larger home two doors east of his brother John’s house which is now used for offices.
Beringer said the John Mellen House built in 1869 is a subtle example of late Italianate architecture with some Victorian gothic features. He said this is a transitional period between Italianate and Victorian Gothic.
Beringer said the Victorian gothic features include gabled roof and delicate window hoods with center swag motif. Italianate features include a cube shaped front portico, decorative brackets, extended eaves and round arch entry. The pillars are chamfered with a single flute.
Beringer spoke to a local professor of architectural history at the college about the home and he was told: “There is not another house in the county or possibly the state that is treated in this fashion. It is almost Federal. Everything that is done is understated and non-flamboyant. It has the characteristics of Italianate but it does not immediately catch your eye. It is sophisticated and dignified. Whoever owned this house has maintained the home as it was in the past.”
Don Stone, who lives next door to the John Mellen House, said that he is sympathetic to his longtime neighbor’s need to sell the property.
“I’m not against the plans per se,” he said. “I’d just hate to see the house go and there are nice walnut trees on the five acres along with deer, owls and coyotes.”
The rezoning application and accompanying sketches will be available for inspection at the public hearing.
