Manoogian Mansion

01 / The story of this place

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Built in 1928 in the Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean Revival style along the Detroit River, this house was bought at auction in 1939 by Alex Manoogian, an Armenian immigrant who had built the Masco company into a major manufacturer of faucets and hardware. In 1966, Manoogian and his family donated the riverfront estate to the City of Detroit to serve as the mayor's official residence, and Mayor Jerome Cavanagh became its first mayoral occupant that same year. The mansion's most famous resident was Coleman Young, Detroit's first Black mayor, who lived here throughout his twenty years in office from 1974 to 1994, using it as both home and a stage for hosting dignitaries during a pivotal, often turbulent era in the city's history. The Manoogian Mansion remains the mayor's official residence today, a private home rather than a museum, but a landmark that ties one of Detroit's leading industrialist families to the city's political history.

1. Built in 1928 in Spanish Colonial Revival style
2. Donated to the City of Detroit by Alex Manoogian in 1966
3. Jerome Cavanagh was its first mayoral resident
4. Coleman Young lived here throughout his 1974–1994 mayoralty
5. Still the official residence of Detroit's mayor