The ending of one person’s dream can be the beginning of another’s, and that is what Kenan Bakirci hopes will happen with his historic Palmer Woods home.

Built in 1922 for former S.S. Kresge President Charles Van Dusen, the 10,395-square-foot brick and limestone manor home is a bit much for one person. Bakirci, 45, a Realtor with Max Broock Realtors in Birmingham that specializes in selling Detroit’s most distinguished homes, recently went through a divorce and decided to sell his dream home rather than live in it alone.

“I had been watching this house personally for 20 years,” he said. “It had a mystique about it.”

The seven-bedroom, five-bathroom house is listed for $860,000.

The home was built as Detroit’s auto industry was expanding quickly. The Palmer Woods subdivision at Woodward Avenue and Seven Mile Road sprouted up in the early 1900s as top executives from the city’s major industries chose it for their lavish homes. The enclave was also once home to the Fisher, Prentis, Sanders and Briggs families, according to the Palmer Woods Web site, www.palmerwoods.org.

But by the time Bakirci bought it, its charms were hidden by weeds, vines and dead trees and had become known as the neighborhood’s “haunted house,” said Barbara Barefield, editor of the Palmer Woods Post and who, along with her husband, jazz guitarist and composer A. Spencer Barefield, organizes the Palmer Woods Music in Homes concert series.

Barefield said the mansion avoided the fates of two other famous homes in the area, including the recent demolition of the former family home of Gov. George Romney and the devastating fire that finished the William Fisher mansion in 1994.

“The transformation of the Van Dusen mansion represents the importance of protecting and preserving Detroit’s architectural treasures and the potential for the ongoing turnaround for our neighborhoods and city,” Barefield said.

Bakirci became the home’s fourth owner when he purchased it in 2008 out of foreclosure for $242,000. He has refinished just about every surface in the home. Prior to the purchase, the house had been neglected for 20 years, he said. The previous owner let the foliage become so overgrown it obstructed views of the home from the street.

Bakirci had lived nearby in Palmer Woods for more than 10 years and had his eye on the Van Dusen house for years. “It was reputed to be a wonderful house, but no one got in to see it,” he said. “I didn’t even know what the front door looked like when I bought it.”

He loves the big, old houses and curvy streets of the neighborhood and plans to purchase a smaller house there when he sells the manor.

Renovations to the Van Dusen mansion include new plumbing, replacing walls and ceilings damaged by water, roofing work, landscaping, kitchen renovations and more.

The house is on a triangle-shaped lot at the intersection of Lowell, Balmoral and Wellesley drives.

The front door opens to a large foyer with the main staircase to the left. Bakirci has a grand piano there along with a seating area in front of a large fireplace with marble surround and walnut paneling. The foyer leads to the important rooms for a ’20s house — a massive living room that measures 38 by 21 feet, the library, the dining room and morning room, and a corridor to the kitchen that includes a bar.

The living room has a plaster bas relief ceiling, a marble surround fireplace with walnut paneling, walnut wainscoting and an oak quartersawn floor.

The dining room features a vault the size of a small walk-in closet and the original stenciled beam ceiling. The library has quartersawn oak, built-in shelves and a crown-molded ceiling repaired from water damage. The library’s fireplace has a handcarved linen-fold motif in the oak.

The kitchen was refinished with travertine floors and granite countertops.

All seven bedrooms are on the second floor along with five bathrooms. The master suite has a dressing room almost as large as the bedroom. The bathroom is art pottery tiled with a separate tub and shower.

The third floor features a billiard room, a ballroom and massive powder room with several full-length mirrors in which to check your ball gown. The home also has a two-bedroom apartment over the garage.

For more information on the Van Dusen home, contact Kenan Bakirci at 248-330-8038.

Contact Greta Guest: 313-223-4192 or gguest@freepress.com