The people behind the Up House and the Lorax Apartments strike again with the rental property they're calling Wonderland House. This 4-Bedroom, 2-bath house was extensively restored and renovated to include a new kitchen,refinished hardwood floors and updated bathrooms. But wait! Because it's an Alex Pereira property, the cool old house isn't all you'll see here—there's a fanciful storybook decor twist sure to generate opinions.
When we last checked in with Pereira, he was restoring a Woodbridge house for use as has family's home—the JD Baer house, also in Woodbridge. With Wonderland, Pereira and his team didn't just decorate—the house now has updated electric, plumbing and new windows. For lower hearing bills—and, uh, totally the environment!—the house is fully insulated and comes with a high efficiency furnace. Both of the home's baths undergone extensive updating, and both have new vanities and fixtures. One has a huge clawfoot tub, while the other is a plain, modern tub but with a glass tile surround and more of the slate flooring.
We promised a twist, though. The house has an Alice in Wonderland theme realized by large statues from the children's book on the lawn and a large custom stained glass window, new to the building, that depicts Louis Carroll's beloved heroine as she struggles with a crane and flees the infamous tea party. This window highlights the gable arch is very beautiful bedroom.
The new kitchen with its "espresso maple" cabinets (per the ad copy), granite counters, subway tile and slate porcelain floors is a little severe, but the tile helps, as does a nicely placed window near the sink. The house has a fireplace, a large yard, and comes with a centrally monitored alarm attended to by the Wayne State Police Department. We're not entirely sold on the idea that a series of whimsical (and expensive) developer rentals can cure a Detroit's blight problem (one of Pareira's stated goals). But this particular storybook fantasy can be yours for $2000 a month and a $2000 deposit. The path to Alice's house won't cause any concern, though—snow removal and moving are courtesy of the landlord.
·3947 Commonwealth [Craigslist]
·J.D. Baer House Resurrected by Detroit Preservationist Pereira [Curbed Detroit]
·Lorax House In Detroit Offers A Message Of Hope [Huffington Post]
·Developer 'cares a whole awful lot' about Woodbridge [Detroit News]
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