The Arnold Home was a senior nursing care facility founded in 1899 and built in 1931. A corner stone on site confirmed these dates. Documents and calendars remaining at the site verified that the site was closed after 2004.
At first sight the Arnold Home looks like a large housing complex. Closer inspection revealed that it was some kind of medical/institutional facility. A long pathway from the street led to the front entrance which was flanked by two symmetrical wings. Tall trees flanking the front of the property added to the sites dismal appearance. A defunct fountain at the entrance had frozen over, it’s blue paint and mosaic faded but visible. The size of the entire building was more apparent after viewing from the middle of the courtyard. Skeletal walkways between building were strewn with smashed vintage piano parts.
There were 2 separate sections, an old one from the 1930’s and a modern addition added later. There were remnants of old medical records, medical supplies and many chairs. Another strange thing was the amount of vintage pianos that were in relatively good condition or thrown off the upper floors by vandals trying to get to the brass of copper components inside. The stairs were graced with a cast iron banister and covered with years of peeling paint. Soon the cold made exploring less fun so the camera was packed up and I continued about my errands.
Update February 2010
After a few inquiries about the vintage player piano found in this archive, some research yielded the following information:
The unusual piano shown in this archive is a Grinnel/Playtona with the Aeolian Action Player system. The middle section of the piano has a gear driven device attached to a metal spool. It was an automated “player piano” that played rolls of sheet music with holes punched into the paper. Player pianos were used in theaters from the early 1900’s till the late 1930’s. Thier use was eclipsed by the popularity of the 78 Phongraph record.
The Aeolian Corporation went out of business in the 1980’s and was located in Rocester NY. The Grinnel Bros. Ltd. was established in 1882. They started out making organs and started making pianos in 1902. Their store was designed by Albert Kahn and still stands today at 1515 Woodward Avenue. They closed the Detroit office in 1981 after filing for bankrupcy.
References
Grinnel Building
http://www.buildingsofdetroit.com/places/grinnell
Aeolian Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_Company
The Pianola Institute
http://www.pianola.org/history/history_inventors.cfm#votey
Player piano
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pianola
Detroiturbebex.com also has recent photos of the Arnold Home.
A50, A51, A52, A57-2 Archives
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Who owns Arnold Home? We are a scouting for a building such as this one for our short psychological thriller…
It was abandoned around 2004. Are you are intending to film there? If so then other sites would be better suited for your purposes, unless you are all willing to act out scenes with respirator masks designed to keep out lead dust.