4805 Charing Cross – Lot #130 and West 64′ of Lot #129
in Bloomfield Estates
In September 1914 the Judson Bradway Company purchased 350 acres from the Walker-Gordon Farm & Laboratory Co. and platted the Bloomfield Estates Subdivision, one of the earliest subdivisions in Bloomfield Township. This development is located between Big Beaver Road and Charing Cross Rd., East of Woodward Ave.
A few houses were built in Bloomfield Estates in the first few years after it was developed and before the Great Depression paralyzed the real estate development business. One of these houses was 4805 Charing Cross Rd. (built about 1917). It is one of three houses in Bloomfield Estates featured in the Judson Bradway Co. Bloomfield Trail Driving Map.
It may be that Judson Bradway and his wife Florence once actually lived in the house. In any event, it is known that from 1935 to 1941 Dorothy K. Roosevelt, with her three daughters, rented the house. Dorothy was the wife of G. Hall Roosevelt, brother of Eleanor Roosevelt, and cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (See the Spring 2016 issue of, Legacy, the newsletter of the BHS for details of the Roosevelt connection.) At that time the Polk Directory lists the house as being, “ss Charing Cross Rd., 1 w. Kensington Rd., B’fldHills.”
A previous owner has provided two documents of interest on this century property to be digitalized:
-The six pages of Blue Prints for “Alterations To A Residence – For Mr. Judson Bradway” drawn by architect Marcus R. Burrowes, and
-A detailed water color Landscape (28” by 34”) painting, “Planting Plan Of Home Grounds – – Judson Bradway, Esq.” (originally 5.6 acres), prepared by T. Glenn Phillips, Landscape Architect, May 1924
The digital photography was done by Bloomfield Historical Society Board member, Larry Trinkaus.
