Last winter, the new owner of the Bishop Mansion walked a reporter through its entry hall, past two Sicilian marble pillars and a lot of carved Black Forest wood. "It's a massive undertaking, but the bones are great," Calvin Gee told the Detroit Free Press in February. He had closed on Detroit's largest private residence for $800,000 a month earlier.
On Saturday, Dec. 5, the Palmer Woods Association's 2026 Holiday Home Tour & Soirée ends its evening in a few select spaces of that house. The association's listing says plainly that the restoration is still underway. This year's tour shows five homes decorated for the holidays and then takes guests into a house in the first stretch of a restoration its owner expects to cost millions.
Five decorated houses before the one just starting
The five homes on the tour cover the range of building styles found within a few blocks of each other in Palmer Woods. Here is how the association describes them:
| Home | Built | What the listing highlights |
|---|---|---|
| English Tudor Revival | 1925 | Mixed materials and textures, contemporary interiors, a period-style music room |
| California Contemporary | 1963 | Designed by the firm of James W. Conn; restored by the current owners with "LA style" décor |
| Mid-century Modern | Not listed | Period-appropriate finishes and furnishings, and a newly enhanced tiki-style basement bar and lounge |
| Neo-Italianate | 1927 | Limestone façade, carved front door, marble foyer; once the home of Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and Judge Trudy Archer |
| Neo-European | 1925 | About 5,000 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 5 baths; new owners decorating in a style that recalls their home in Botswana |
Two of these houses are described as completed restorations. The Conn house has been "stylishly restored and renovated" by its current owners, and the Mid-century Modern home is "expertly restored" down to the smallest details, including a tiki lounge that was recently updated. The Bishop Mansion is at the other end of that process. It has a new owner and a restoration that is only getting started.
Only one ticket type reaches the mansion. A Tour Only ticket covers the five homes and does not include the Bishop's Mansion. The Tour & Soirée ticket adds the mansion, with heavy hors d'oeuvres, wine or a holiday specialty drink, and holiday music.
How Detroit's largest house reached $800,000
The mansion's price history explains why a few open rooms this December count as an event. The house sits at 19366 Lucerne Drive, west of Woodward and south of Eight Mile, on about 2 acres. Members of the Fisher brothers, founders of Fisher Body, commissioned it in 1925. Historic Detroit records that Archbishop Michael J. Gallagher was the first to live there, followed by Edward Mooney and John Francis Dearden.
After the archdiocese years, the house changed hands several times:
- 1989: Former Detroit Pistons player John Salley bought it from the church for a reported $1 million, according to Model D.
- 2017: The Free Press reported a sale to a California investor for more than $2.5 million in cash.
- May 2023: The house went on the market for nearly $9 million, as Metro Times reported.
- September 2025: It was relisted at $1 million.
- January 2026: It closed at $800,000 to Gee, after years on and off the market and several price reductions.
The house was in good company in the late 1920s. The Free Press tied it to the manufacturing fortunes that paid for grand estates across Palmer Woods and Boston-Edison. The $800,000 price covers only the purchase. Gee expects the restoration to cost millions, given its scope and how rare many of the materials are.
What the restoration starts with, and what it saves
Gee laid out the order of work in February. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems come first. After that, the restoration moves floor by floor or wing by wing. "I'm in no rush," he told the Free Press. "This place deserves the care and time to do it the right way." By March, Crain's Detroit Business described him as just sinking his teeth into the renovation.
Systems work usually happens out of sight, which means a lot of what guests see in December will predate the current owner. Earlier owners finished the roof and windows, and the carriage house with its four-car garage has been restored. Inside, the Free Press listed original features that survive despite past renovations that removed some interior walls:
- Original Pewabic tile
- Chandeliers and wall sconces
- An antique intercom system and a dumbwaiter
- Carved limestone and wood-paneled walls
- Elevator shafts running from the basement to the third level
- A second-floor chapel with wood ceilings and stained glass
Gee told the paper that if he had to keep any part of the house exactly as it is, it would be the entry and the chapel. Previous owners left renderings for extensive redesigns, and he set those aside. "I want to preserve as much as possible," he said. "We'll add modern amenities and make sure everything is up to code and built to last another 100 years, but I don't want to over-modernize it."
His plans go beyond living there. Gee intends to move in while relocating his AI and robotics company, Engage, from Austin, Texas, to Detroit. He has described the mansion as a place where his robotics team can collaborate, and he hopes the home may open to the public in some form one day. The Dec. 5 soirée is a small first version of that hope. The association calls it "a rare glimpse inside Detroit's largest home."
The mansion and the tour have crossed paths before
The house has a long but irregular history with this event. In 2006, Model D reported that the mansion was on the Palmer Woods Holiday Home Tour for the first time in 17 years, and that it had been used for the 1995 Designer Showcase. The soirée venue changes from year to year. In 2024, the association's tour page advertised a Dec. 7 tour of five homes followed by a soirée at the Rose Estate, Aretha Franklin's former home. In 2025, the association's big event was a July Home and Garden Tour with a garden party.
That makes this December the mansion's first appearance on the tour since its January 2026 sale, early in a restoration that Gee has said he is in no rush to finish.
Planning the afternoon of Dec. 5
From publish day, the event is a little over three weeks away. Here is how the association has set it up:
- Hours: 2 to 10:30 p.m., with doors at 1:45 p.m.
- Tickets: Eventbrite lists tickets from $81.88 for Tour Only. The Tour & Soirée tier, the only one that includes the mansion, is listed at about $162. The association limits attendance and recommends buying early. Refunds are available up to 14 days before the event, which puts the cutoff around Saturday, Nov. 21.
- Parking: Guests park off-site across 7 Mile from Palmer Woods and take door-to-door shuttles to each home. Ticket holders get updated directions by email the week before.
- Pacing: Tours run in timed shifts. Plan on about two hours for the five homes before the soirée begins.
- Shoes: Guests may be asked to remove or cover their shoes in each home.
Questions go to the association at [email protected], and more information is at palmerwoods.org.
If you're going on Dec. 5 and want to talk afterward about what the Bishop Mansion's systems-first restoration means for the other historic houses on your street, City Living Detroit is happy to compare notes. Schedule a consultation.
