Encyclopedia Of Detroit
Fisher Mansion
The most flamboyant of the seven Fisher brothers, Lawrence Fisher, built his mansion on one of the 46 lots purchased by the Fisher family in the Grayhaven community on the Grayhaven Canal at its eastern entrance to the Detroit River. As a wealthy bachelor, Lawrence wanted to show off his fortune and had the mansion built close to Lake St. Clair with a boat house to house his 106-foot yacht.
Located at 383 Lenox, the cream-colored stucco and red tiled roof, 22,000 square foot mansion cost $2.5 million in 1928. Designed by C. Howard Crane, architect of the Fox Theatre, the home has 50 rooms set in a blend of Italian Renaissance, Moorish and Spanish styles. Oddly, the mansion contained only two bedrooms. The interior of the mansion is filled with marble columns, gold and silver trimming, black walnut paneling, Pewabic tile, hand-painted, leather-covered walls and rosewood parquet floors. The grounds include four acres of gardens with fountains and a waterfall.
Bought in 1975 by Krishna devotees Alfred Brush Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, and Elizabeth Reuther Dickmeyer, daughter of UAW President Walter Reuther, the mansion was donated to the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and is open to the public. The Krishnas also maintain a vegetarian catering service on the mansion’s grounds called Govinda’s Catering.
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