Verona Apartments

The Verona Apartments building is architecturally important as an example of the work of prominent Detroit architects, William G. Malcolmson and William E. Higginbotham. Their partnership began in 1890 and is known for two Romanesque Revival churches located within the University-Cultural Center study area. They also built schools for the Detroit Public School system, including Central High School (now Old Main) which was completed in 1896--the same year and only a few blocks away from the Verona. The Verona is also architecturally important because it is an early example of a high-rise apartment building. The Romanesque character to the Verona, the Sullivanesque decoration, and the rounded embayments on the front facade suggest the influence of the Chicago School of architecture--the breeding ground in the late 19th century of the development of well-lighted, spacious, fireproof and steel-framed skyscrapers. The Verona is significant, secondly, in terms of the transformation of the University-Cultural Center. The Verona originally consisted of sixteen spacious suites. Located in a semi-rural or suburban section of Detroit, the Verona catered to upper-class men and women, company officials, professionals, and well-to-do widows. Although a multi-unit building, the Verona offered some features--the three separate entrances, for example--that provided intense privacy for its upper-class occupants. By 1945, however, changes within the UCC had caught up with the Verona. The original sixteen suites were subdivided into smaller apartments; occupants as a whole were less wealthy than those at the beginning; and commercial space began to be rented out of the basement and first two levels. Thus, the history of the Verona reflects the change of the UCC from an upper-class residential area to more commercial orientation in which the population by the mid-20th century consisted of students, employees of area institutions, and less affluent residents.

The Verona Apartments building was built in 1894-96 on W. Ferry at the corner of Cass. The front Romanesque arched entryway and the two four-story bay window sections suggest the architectural influence of the Chicago School in methods of constructing high-rise buildings in the late-19th century. The floral decor on both the exterior and interior of the original sixteen suite apartment building suggests, as well, the influence of Chicago's Louis Sullivan. The symmetrical structure is 'T' shaped in its layout, but viewed from Cass and W. Ferry the Verona is decidedly squarish in its basic proportions. The main central body of the structure is five stories high, while the two identical flanking wings are three stories. Three distinct parts make up the Verona: a five foot high base portion comprised of smooth cut stone arranged in a running bond pattern, with an occasional thin string course of rough cut stone; then the main body constructed out of an orange colored brick; and an upper frieze section minus the original entablature which had consisted of an elaborate cornice supported by floral decorated brackets. The main vestibule and lobby feature dark finished oak woodwork and wainscotting, Ionic columns, and a carefully crafted iron cage elevator and oak staircase. Today, the Verona consists of over twenty-six apartments. The basement level on the Cass side is used for commercial purposes. The main body of the Verona facing W. Ferry is symmetrically arranged about a center axis. Located at the center is an arched entranceway of a decidedly Romanesque character. The semi-circular arch is framed by three sets of banding which terminate on brackets. These brackets align with the top molding of the base portion of the building. The word 'Verona' appears on the interior banding, intermixed with the floral pattern which is Sullivanesque in style. Three stories of paired windows rise above the main archway. Situated within the rounded arch located above these windows is a circular ornament decorated with a Sullivanesque floral design. Two four-story bay sections flanking the main entrance section increase the amount of light reaching the interior apartments. Each level of the bay sections consists of a group of three windows, most of the single sash type with a transom light above.