Saturday, January 31, 2009
Marge Colborn
Former Detroiter and NBA star Chris Webber sells his dream home
When retired basketball star Chris Webber, 35, was growing up in Detroit, his mother would pack the kids (he's the oldest of five) in the car and drive her brood through Palmer Woods and Indian Village, pointing out the beautiful homes' architectural traits.
"She was especially drawn to rooflines and windows," says Webber, who now works for TNT in Atlanta and owns a Sacramento, Calif., business.
After graduating from Detroit Country Day in Beverly Hills, where he was named the 1990-91 National High School Player of the Year, Webber attended the University of Michigan for two years. While a Michigan Wolverine, he led the group of players known as the Fab Five. Sporting long, baggy shorts and black athletic shoes, the Fab Five became immensely popular as they were seen as bringing a hip-hop flavor to the game. Webber went on to spend 15 years with the NBA, spending 2007 with the Pistons, his beloved home team.
"I lived most of that time in apartments," Webber says by phone from Atlanta. "But I always dreamed of building a house on the water in Detroit -- I'm a Pisces, after all."
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In 2005, a friend suggested Webber look at some of the lakefront mansions in the Grosse Pointes. When he saw a 1927 Wallace Frost mansion for sale in Grosse Pointe Park, he was smitten.
"I'm a lover of history and a Wallace Frost fan," explains the 6-foot-10 Webber, "and I was completely blown away by this house."
But not everyone was so taken with the historic structure.
"Some people thought I should tear it down and build a new home," he says, "but I wanted to save and share Frost's vision for future generations."
Webber purchased the house and, true to his word, he has saved it, handsomely restoring and updating it as well as having it professionally decorated by Los Angeles interior designer Alicia Noir.
"The biggest thing I did was install central air conditioning," he says, modestly. "No one thought of AC in the 1920s." (He also insulated and updated the electrical systems.)
Sadly, Webber is now in the process of selling his dream home for $3.5 million.
"I work in Atlanta now, and I'm on the road to Sacramento a lot so I'm just not in Detroit very much," he says, adding that he's also produced some Grammy-nominated R&B tunes.
Although Webber's house is spacious at nearly 9,000 square feet, it is an inviting home.
"There's no wasted space in this house," says Andrus Realty agent Jenny Nolan, who has the house listing with colleague Libby Hollis. "It's comfortable, not intimidating."
The living room is divided into four seating areas -- one facing the fireplace, one oriented to the lake view, one for TV watching and one for dining/game playing. A den/office faces the lake and has its own fireplace with a herringbone brick motif and flat-screen TV. The formal dining room easily seats eight and is furnished in an inviting powder blue and chocolate brown palette; a secret door links the dining room and den.
Upstairs, each bedroom has its own bathroom. A new, free-standing tub has a heated headrest. The original, porcelain, double sink in another bath is pristine; a new one from Waterworks is quite pricy.
Webber fondly remembers lots of good times at the house with family members.
"I used to entertain quite a bit in the main living room," says Webber, who dated Tyra Banks for three years but has no special lady in his life right now. "We had some good times and good food there while looking at the water."
Webber says his favorite spaces are the home theater, den/office and living room.
"I miss the house terribly," he admits, "but I still plan to build a house on the water someday."
You can reach Marge Colborn at (313) 222-2756 or
mcolborn@detnews.com.
