Photo essay: Meet some of the homeowners building in North Corktown

From townhouses to a farmhouse, North Corktown has seen a lot of new modern housing development these days — and there are no signs of slowing down.

Originally part of Corktown, known as Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, North Corktown was created in the 1950s when I-75 was built and split the neighborhood into north and south. The area is 0.59 square miles with 1,600 residents, and more than 70% of the neighborhood is vacant, which has led to green spaces such as pocket parks and urban farms. It’s also attracted the attention of developers, and amid that increasing interest the North Corktown Neighborhood Association created its Sustainable Development Plan. In 2019, the City of Detroit launched the Greater Corktown Planning Framework Study.

“There’s a lot of housing being planned in that area,” says Brian Hurttienne, principal architect at Christian Hurttienne Architects, who along with business partner Christopher Christian worked with a few homeowners to design and build their houses in North Corktown and helped them navigate the process of buying through the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

“The homes are very centric to the homeowners,” Hurttienne says. The modern designs may not be traditional, but “that speaks more toward the future … rather than just repeating the past.”

The homeowners — Tom Cox, Norm Davies, and Mollie Decker and Mike Sklenka — gave us a glimpse into their living spaces.

Meet Tom Cox

With the main room/kitchen, Cox says he and his wife, who is a nurse at DMC Harper Hospital, wanted an open space, "so that while one of us was cooking, we could talk to the other one if they were lounging and watching TV."

The stairwell, which is custom made, goes up to the roof deck, where they have views of downtown and the train station.
The master bedroom has an attached bathroom with a walk-in shower. There's also a basement with another bedroom for guests.

Cox works from home and has an online business selling books and records. He and his wife have lived in North Corktown for about a year. "The neighbors are really friendly," he says of what he likes about living in the neighborhood, adding they enjoy the open spaces and access to the Riverwalk for biking and walking. "We're very happy here."

Meet Norm Davies

Norm Davies stands on his rooftop deck, where he likes to hang out with a beer and enjoy the view of downtown. He's a software engineer who has lived in metro Detroit since he was 7, when he moved here from Wales. 

Davies' house faces south, so the kitchen and living areas were strategically placed in the home near the windows to take advantage of all of that natural sunlight.

From the exterior of the house to the kitchen countertops, red and white are the main colors of the house.

Meet Mollie Decker and Mike Sklenka

Mollie Decker and Mike Sklenka are both architects by trade so they designed their two-story work-live space and bootstrapped and did everything themselves, from the floors to the burnt wood for the exterior (below).



Decker and Sklenka own Object Apparel, a sustainable clothing company that produces modern basics using organic and ethically sourced materials. They design, pattern, cut, dye, sew, and screen-print everything themselves in their workspace on the first floor.

Decker loves to cook, so not surprisingly the kitchen is one of her favorite parts of the house. The concrete countertops (by Line Detroit) were a splurge, but Sklenka did the floors himself and built the shelves and kitchen table.

A little office nook tucked away behind the wall of the living area.

All photos by David Lewinski