Indian Village home reflects the wealth of Detroit's early industrial giants

Diana McNary / The Detroit News

It's hard not to gasp upon entering the Indian Village home of Karl Rodig. At every turn, a visitor is greeted with the ornate indulgences of Detroit's early 20th-century industrial titans. Extensive wood molding. Marble mosaic floors with Greek borders. Intricate plasterwork on ceilings and over doorways.

Built in 1909 by architect Louis Kamper for chemical magnate Cornelius Ray, the house is designed in a French Regency style, with touches of other influences, such as third-floor Georgian-style dormers and a Palladian window flanked with Ionian pilasters that shines natural light on the grand staircase.

It features seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, full servants' quarters and a huge multi-closeted dressing room on the third floor, and a quaint "quarantine room" -- the farthest from the rest of the family, where the sick were isolated in another era. (It's a TV room now.)

Rodig, 50, has lived here with a few family members for less than a year, decorating with a mix of antique furniture, family photos and an eclectic collection of art. Little renovation was needed, he said, as previous owners did restoration work in 2004-05.

Much of the living space on the second and third floors is still unfurnished, but Rodig will open the first floor for the annual Indian Village Home and Garden Tour on June 6 (see box at left.). Homestyle accompanied him on a tour of the magnificent dwelling.

What led you to this neighborhood?

We went to Boston-Edison, we went to Palmer Woods. But I liked the location, the vicinity to downtown, the river, Grosse Pointe.

Tell me about that fireplace. Is that original?

Everything you see is original, except for the furniture. The fireplace is neo-classical and marble.

What's the story behind the rocking horse in the living room?

That's an antique from our family. Yesterday, I had some friends of ours over for coffee and cake, including children, and a little girl, and the first thing she did was jump on the horse. That was fun.

That staircase, oh my, that's amazing.

Yes. The chandelier, we were told, was a gift from Edsel Ford to the original owners.

The plasterwork on the ceiling in the dining room is quite impressive.

Those are Napoleonic medallions. Also the plasterwork over the doors -- it's a French feature.

They really put some details into these places, didn't they?

Yes.

Is this a butler's pantry (a small passageway of cabinets between the dining room and kitchen)?

Yes, there are two butler's pantries.

Is the kitchen original?

Actually, it was remodeled in the 1970s. It had bloody-red walls. That was changed (laughs).

Did you pick out that unusual wallpaper?

No, we're going to change the wallpaper in the kitchen. It's too dark.

That octagonal cupola over the three-car garage is interesting.

The garage was built for electric cars, and that's lit at night. There's a skylight in there, too. It was meant for light, for when people were working inside, in the old days. We're going to make the top either silver or gold, to make it shiny again.

In older photos of this house, there's a porch on the front.

One of the owners took that down, because it was wood. They called it a piazza.

The blueprints of this house indicate mosaic marble floors throughout the first floor, but there are hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms.

What I think they (previous owners) did, they put the wooden floor on top of the marble floor.

So if you took up the wood floor, you think you'd find the original mosaic below?

Maybe, down the road!

What's the square footage of this house?

About 9,000, including the attic. The attic is also built in, for the maids. They have their own kitchen and sleeping rooms.

With all this space, all these rooms, do you ever get lost?

(Laughs) In the beginning, yes.

ndian Village Home and Garden Tour

What: Nine homes, two carriage houses and two gardens will be featured.

When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. June 6

Cost: $15 in advance, $20 on tour day; group discounts available

Advance tickets: Available at Iroquois Avenue Christ Lutheran Church, 2435 Iroquois Ave.; Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, 8625 E. Jefferson Ave.; and Waldorf School, 2555 Burns Ave.

More information: www.historicindianvillage.org

dmcnary@detnews.com (313) 222-2358