Julius Theodore Melchers

Julius Theodore Melchers (1829–1908) was a German born American sculptor and teacher who immigrated to the United States leaving Prussia after 1848 and resided in Detroit, Michigan after 1855 . During the Gilded Age, he became a "sculptor of great renown in the Detroit area." The Julius T. Melchers House (1897) by Donaldson and Meier is located at 723 Seyburn, in the Indian Village Historic District on which Julius carved the ornate gable. The likelihood that Melchers left Europe, as did so many other in and after the turbulent year of 1848 for political reasons is somewhat supported that he named his son (called, "Gari") after the famous Italian patriot and revolutionary Garibaldi.

Julius Theodore Melchers, was born in Soest, Westphalia, Prussia At age fifteen, while still in Prussia, Julius T. Melchers studied carving then studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris with Carpeaux and Étex. Before moving to the United States he worked as a modeler at the Crystal Palace in London as well as carving ships figureheads.

He had at least three children: one was Hettie Melchers, who married Julius Stroh of the Stroh brewing family in June 1883. The couple lived in an Italianate mansion on E. Jefferson Ave across from Van Dyke. His son, Gari Melchers, born in 1860, was an artist. The third child was Julia Melchers, who married Spencer Otis of Barington Ill.

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