Detroit Architects: Chittenden & Kotting

Founded by Detroit-based architects and principal partners Alpheus W. Chittenden and Charles Kotting, Chittenden & Kotting was one of Detroit’s most sought-after residential architectural firms during the city’s early rise in the late 1890s to the 1920s. 

Their designs were known for luxury, refinement, and skillful revival styling (Tudor, Renaissance, and Colonial), which conveyed taste and prestige in equal measure and went a long way in appealing to the tastes of Detroit’s upper-class merchants, industrialists, and civic leaders.

Together, Chittenden & Kotting helped shape the architectural identity of Detroit’s emerging elite neighborhoods, like Indian Village, where they contributed the largest collection of homes by a single firm in the district, including:

• The Bingley Fales House at 1771 Seminole
• The Dr. Howard C. Judd House at 873 Iroquois
• The Fritz Goebel House at 1480 Seminole
• The Harry C. Bulkley House at 749 Seminole
• The Standish Backus House at 1750 Iroquois
• The Henry A. Haigh House at 762 Seminole
• The John D. McKay House at 1450 Iroquois
• The Mary S. Smith House 
• The Mrs. Sophia Breisacher House at 1073 Seminole
• The Rufus Clark House at 1427 Burns
• The Walter Brooks House at 1091 Burns
• The William S. Connant House at 790 Seminole

Through these expertly crafted commissions, Chittenden & Kotting have bolstered Detroit’s reputation as a place of architectural treasure — a city full of stately boulevards lined with individually designed homes that continue to embody cultural status, abundance, and historic legacy.