Skip to content
Rebuild Detroit

Popular in Metro Detroit

Call (888) 471-3135

Historic home, Brush Park, since 1898

Bernard Ginsburg House

Still standing, photographed 2016

Bernard Ginsburg House, on Adelaide in Detroit, Michigan Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Built
1898
Style
English Renaissance
Standing
128 years

Designed by Albert Kahn and Nettleton & Kahn

The Bernard Ginsburg House at 236 Adelaide St, built in 1898. The family, the architect, the block it belongs to and what stands there today.

On the map

Then and now

Photographed 2016

Bernard Ginsburg House, 2016 Photo: Elisa.rolle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Today, from the street

Bernard Ginsburg House from the street today Photo: Street View, 2026

What is there now

Standing and lived in

  • Lived in by its owner Homestead exemption on file Source: County parcel records
  • Standing Source: Historic Detroit

We checked building permits, sales, listings and the city's blight and demolition files on October 25, 2026.

The story

By Victoria Jackson, Editor in Chief Updated

The house at 236 Adelaide St went up in 1898, in Detroit's Gilded Age, when stove works, shipyards and railroads made the city's first fortunes.

It carries the name of Bernard Ginsburg.

Albert Kahn and Nettleton & Kahn designed it in the English Renaissance style.

It belongs to Brush Park, where the city protects the look of every house on the street.

Most homes like it are lived in, so enjoy it from the sidewalk.

The Bernard Ginsburg House is a single-family private residence located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Brush Park district. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Timeline

  1. 1898 Built Designed by Albert Kahn and Nettleton & Kahn
  2. 1980 Protected by the city Brush Park
  3. 2026 Today Standing and lived in

Where it is

236 Adelaide St.

On this map

  1. Bernard Ginsburg House This place
  2. St. Patrick Catholic Church 100 ft
  3. Horace S. Tarbell House 120 ft
  4. William Lennane House 450 ft
  5. The Inn at 97 Winder 500 ft
  6. Caroline A. Stokes House 500 ft
  7. Isaac L'Hommedieu House 0.1 mi
  8. James V. Campbell House 0.1 mi
  9. Ransom Gillis House 0.1 mi

Street map from OpenStreetMap contributors

Who made it

Albert Kahn
Photo: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Architect

Albert Kahn

American architect, 1869 to 1942. Designed the General Motors Building (1922) and 114 more in Metro Detroit

Also by Albert Kahn

Architect

Nettleton & Kahn

Architecture firm. Designed the Bernard Ginsburg House (1898) and 7 more in Metro Detroit

Also by Nettleton & Kahn

More from Detroit in the 1890s

Around the block

It is in Brush Park. See the neighborhood's homes, pros and story.

Photo credits

Every photo on this page is used under its license, named here with its author and a link to the original.

  1. Bernard Ginsburg House, on Adelaide in Detroit, Michigan Photo: Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  2. Bernard Ginsburg House, 2016 Photo: Elisa.rolle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  3. The Col. Frank J. Hecker House in Detroit, Michigan, United States, seen here from across Woodward Avenue, is listed on..., 2008 Photo: Andrew Jameson at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  4. Bernard Ginsburg, Detroit philanthropist and charity worker, 1919 Photo: Irving I Katz, The Beth El Story, 1955, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  5. Bernard Ginsburg House from the street today Photo: Street View, 2026

Sources

Facts only, gathered from these sources. The story above is written by Rebuild Detroit. Every photo names its author and license where it appears.