Curious? Take a Look Inside This Really Unique Home on West Main

If you live in Kalamazoo, chances are you've driven by the two unique houses right at the corner of West Main and Fletcher Streets. They stand out because they are so different from just about any other properties in town.

The real estate business is hot right now, and has been for several years. Many houses sell in a matter of days, not weeks. Well, you had a chance to buy the one on the left, but as of May 12th, there's a sale pending. Still, the pictures are up and some of us people are nosy.

Looking through the photo gallery below, it's a very nice house. If there's a downside, it's the traffic on West Main, (but one former resident says, away from the street, it is hardly noticeable.) and let's be honest, not everyone drives with the sound down on their speakers at night. Still, the southwest style architecture is beautiful both on the exterior and on the interior.

Digging into Vanished Kalamazoo on Facebook tells some anecdotal stories on the property.

The City's historian, Sharon Ferraro posted that they look like Sears pre-cut homes from the 1910's to the 1930's, (the real estate listing says 1925) but looking through the Sears archive, it shows some similar homes, but not quite exactly that design. (But many other homes in this Sears archive look similar to properties all over the Kalamazoo area. Another testament to the giant impact Sears had on our society, and what a shame it is to what management did to that company.)

Several comments refer to the two homes across the street from each other as "California bungalows". As the thread meanders, it's difficult to get a consensus on the origins of the two homes. Someone posted that it was an architect who like moved from the southwest, but again, everything is anecdotal. A number of posters agreed that a Dr. Loretta Goodhue had a medical practice in one of the homes in the late 1940's, and may have lived in the other. Also, several people told stories of living in one of the properties that was rental to college students, back in the day. Looking at the recent history of the property, it does seem to have changed more than a few times.

The house whose sale is pending does have a rich history, and with new owners coming in, chances are they'll be adding to that history.