5126 Chene Street
Brogowicz Family Home, Classy Tailors, Cleaners, and Dyers, Katz’s Plumbing and Heating Service, Holy Prayer Way of Churches
This address includes 5126, 5128, and 5130 Chene Street
This is one of the more unique structures on Chene Street, especially if you’re only considering structures still standing. Typically, storefronts attached to frame houses were a single store, not two.
Originally a large home, the front commercial structure was added onto by the Brogowicz around 1920. The two-story home, which is taller than the storefront, was connected to the space. The second floor of the new building was a part of the home, not the commercial space below. According to Andy Brogowicz, the grandson of those who built it, there were bedrooms overlooking Chene Street. The house was extended on the backside when the commercial structure was built.
The main floor had two units. By the 1930s, Classy Tailors, Cleaners, and Dyers occupied the storefront on the left, the smaller of the two. On the right was Katz’s Plumbing and Heating Service, which would be a mainstay of the Chene Street neighborhood for years. Advertisements from the 1930s list their expertise in plumbing, heating, alterations, and repairs. In the 1940s, the Brogowicz’s sold the building.
By the 1950s, businesses were still on the main floor, but Chene Street had already started to change. The neighborhood’s makeup was adapting, and some storefronts had begun to close. In 1951, an unidentified business utilizing the space was hiring for a job from 10-to-2, five days a week.
At some point after that, the structure became a storefront church. According to former residents, it may have switched congregations several times. Around the time it became a church, a building across the street opened as the Raven Lounge. As many businesses were closing and being demolished, these two, among others, stood tall.
At some point, Holy Prayer Way of Churches moved into the space. The church dates back to 1972 when it was founded by Reverend H. M. Harris “to preach, marry, bury the dead, and to look after the sick.” At some point, they moved to Chene Street, and their last report with the state came in 2011. The nonprofit was dissolved in 2014. By then, the structure was abandoned. There are still church pews inside.
Notorious Detroit slumlord Dennis Kefallinos owns the property. In recent years, he has amassed numerous properties in Poletown East and has done very little to any of them. Likely, we won’t see anything new here until it burns down, he repaints it after it gets graffitied, or the Land Value Tax Plan gets pushed through, and Kefallinos starts selling properties instead of sitting on them.
The home next door recently had its storefront demolished and appears to be getting rennovated.
Special thanks to Andy Brogowicz for sharing his research and family memories.
