MID-TOWN HOUSE STORIES - The Cozy Craftsman at 811 Lyon Street NE

This house, designed by an engineer, has been the home of designers of brass, metal, and flowers, an artist/illustrator, and a maker of fine craft beer. Three special features are its classic California bungalow style, welcoming porch, and surprising spaciousness. Eltjo and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Huttenga designed the home in 1916. They were ages 41 and 42, respectively. They created the house with floor-to-ceiling windows and decorative leaded glass, which you could apparently order from popular house catalogs; hardwood floors; a staircase with a windowed landing; and a living room fireplace flanked by bookshelves.

Lizzie (Elizabeth) had an Irish father and a New York-born mother. She married Eltjo in 1905, described as having brown hair, gray eyes, and medium weight and height. He worked as an engineer at the Berkey & Gay Furniture Company in 1907 and then at the O. & W. Thum Company in 1913. The Thum Company manufactured “sticky fly paper” used by California fruit growers. The Thum company’s frequent litigation over competition, trademarks, and stock took it all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. After finishing the house in 1916, Eltjo registered for the World War I draft in 1917. After the war, in 1919, he was appointed City Smoke Inspector by the Board of Public Works with a $1,200 salary. Eltjo’s job was to test and serve notices for offensive smoke coming from the city’s chimneys and smokestacks— a bad time for air quality.

Around 1920 Eltjo became Chief Engineer at the Wolverine Brass Works, one of the city’s leading industries. The company was located in today’s Brass Works Building at 620 Monroe (then known as Canal Street). Founded by a master plumber, Louis A. Cornelius, the Wolverine Brass Works produced high-quality brass fittings made mostly by hand. It is not so unusual, then, that 811 Lyon NE has unusually nice brass hinges on the tall wooden doors original to the house.

Eltjo died in 1923, at just 46 years old, and was buried at Fairplains Cemetery. Elizabeth kept the house until nearly 1940 by renting rooms, a common practice for widows who needed to earn an income. Elizabeth advertised rooms with board for a “business girl who wants a real home” (from the advertisement). Public school teacher Roma Baker and Steam Railroad stenographer Constance Kaad boarded at 811 Lyon. Elizabeth also served as an officer of the Central Church of Christ. By 1940, she had moved to a little bungalow at 1431 Pine Street, and the house was vacant. She died in 1964 and was buried next to Eltjo at Fairplains Cemetery.

It turns out that the house was owned by florist and lecturer Robert F. Crabb from 1945 to 1946. Robert managed the Arthur G. Crabb Floral Shop on Fulton Street, founded by his father, the shop’s namesake. In 1948, Robert and the shop were acclaimed for designing the flowers for the wedding of future president Gerald R. Ford and Betty Bloomer who were busy at that time on the road, campaigning for Ford’s congressional seat. The fact that Betty Bloomer grew up just a few blocks away on Fountain Street (watch for this upcoming story) in the Midtown Neighborhood may have influenced the choice of the Arthur G. Crabb Floral Shop.

Marge and Theodore Majewski brought their new baby home to this house in 1946. Theodore was one of the founders of the Metal Craftsman Union in 1941 and was a toolmaker at the Jarecki Tool and Die Company. The Metal Craftsman Union was formed to improve the social and material interests of laborers and mechanics in the metalworking trades, and to establish collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act.

By 1947, Theodore and Marge advertised for sale a 9-piece mahogany dining room suite made by the well-known Irwin Company, as well as custom-made living room furniture. Did Lizzie Huttenga leave behind these pieces of furniture? After all, Huttengas were connected to the city’s pre-eminent furniture makers of the day, and Lizzie probably didn’t have room for them in her new apartment. The Majewskis also ordered new drapes, but it appears they were cheated by a Flint man, and a former resident, who took the drapery measurements and a down payment, but never delivered on the goods. The scammer was arraigned in court on a charge of “larceny of $100 by conversion.” By 1950, the Majewskis moved to 1362 Hillcrest NW in the Walker area, then later built a house in the Greenridge Country Club development.

As Chief Dispatcher for the Pere Marquette railroad, William J. Franzke lived here from 1951 to 1958 with his wife, Phillis Brooks Franzke, a stenographer and South High graduate. They sold the house to Elizabeth A. and George A. Hamill, an office worker, who stayed until their 1971 retirement. By 1974, the home was owned by Ingrid E. and Philip R. North, a laboratory technician at Packaging Corporation of America at 470 Market SW. They were travelers who parked their 19-foot Airstream with a “For Sale” sign by the house.

By 1981, the children of John P. Cacamo were running about the house, including six-year-old Danny Caccamo of St Alphonsus School, who was a winner in the GR Press contest “to take a simple shape and use it as the basis of a drawing.”

The house had a succession of owners from 1986 through 2013, when Daniel and Judith VanderWoude purchased it. They sold the house in 2019 to Brooklyn, NY artist/illustrator, Libby VanderPloeg, and her partner Erik Olsen, former head brewer at the Greyline Brewing Company. Libby brought her client roster and worked from home. Libby established garden beds, emphasizing native plants as a habitat for butterflies and bees. Erik established an impressive vegetable garden, and they renovated the kitchen and upstairs bath, building on the home’s good bones. Tucker, a rescue dog, joined the family. By 2024, the couple had relocated to California. Libby’s parents, researcher-writer Pam and attorney Jon VanderPloeg, continue to care for the house, creating a new Midtown story.

SAMPLE SOURCES: Ancestry.com; Grand Rapids City Directories. “Classifieds,” GR Press, 9/19/1947. “Says Bible Reading Brings More Value than the Sermon,” GR Press 12/20/1934. “Kid Winner News,” GR Press 11/7/1981. “Local Group Organizes Metal Craftsmen Union,” GR Press 8/11/1941. Wolverine Brass website and so many more sources.