It's a house anyone who has ever been to Dexter has seen – from the outside that is. The big sweeping front porch wraps around the entire house like a mother's arm protecting her child. Thecircular roof above the porch hugs the majestic turret that reflects more of a Scottish castle than a Michigan house.
The peaks above the second-floor windows reach for the sky while the shake shingles add a smile to its glowing face. The half-moon window on the bottom floor helps create a welcoming aura.
It's only fitting that this local landmark sits ever so comfortably across the street from Monument Park. Because the "Honey" house is one of Dexter's most cherished and recognizable monuments.
And the entire house is decked out in white. From cover to cover, the outside is a blanket of snowflake white.
It is elegance. Beauty. Distinctive. Even symbolic – of a simpler time when life slowed down to notice such glamour, such craftsmanship, such charm.
But while the house may look like a mansion from the outside, it's nothing like that inside. Mansions can seem endless on the inside. Too big. Too cold. Too lonely. This house is a home in every sense of the word. Because the inside of this house is the home to character and warmth. And love.
While the rooms are wonderfully decorated and quite grand, it's the owners and their love for each other and their love for their home that stands out – just as much as the porch or the turret out front.
But you can only experience this inside the house. You can only imagine it from the outside. And to understand and appreciate the inside you have to learn the history and meet the owners, who have put their personal touch in the house for the past 72 years.
Built in or around 1895, the house was built for Dr. Robert Honey, who owned and operated a local drug store and lived there for about seven years. The house was designed by Dexter architect John F. Wing.
The house was then bought by the Beeler family, whose parents are buried in Dexter. Harriott Beeler, the daughter, lives in New York and actually visited the house a few years ago.
The house is now home to Eddy and Janet Going. In fact, it's always been the home of Eddy, who moved into the house when he was just 10-years old. Eddy's father, Ed Sr., owned a furniture store and purchased the home from the bank for $2,500 in 1934. Some of the furniture from his father's store still resides throughout the house.
The house has been the "Going Home" now for 72 years.
"I liked hanging out in the barn and being with the horses," said Eddy, whose father's parents came from Detroit and his mother's parents came from Dayton, Ohio. "It was a fun place to grow up in."
"His mother (Mabel) always told the story about how he liked being in his bedroom too," Janet says. "She says he always had to have a Christmas tree in his room."
During holidays and special events, Eddy's relatives from Detroit would take the train to Dexter and come out and visit. It was a popular place for all the kids in the family.
Eddy lived in the home for eight years before getting the call to move out. That call came from the army, not his parents.
"I went into the service in 1943," he said. "By the time I was 21-years old I had traveled all the way around the world. My outfit helped build the Burma Road. It was a lifeline to China during the war. I was 19, 20 years old. I was scared. Heck, everybody was scared."
Janet says: "His dad knew some pretty influential people and told Eddy he could get him out of going, but Eddy said my buddies are in there so I have to go."
But it was a trip to a carnival in Ann Arbor where he first saw what turned out to be the love of his life.
"I was raised in Ann Arbor and I met Eddy at a carnival in Ann Arbor when I was 18," Janet said.
Eddy left the service on Dec. 7, 1945 and met Janet in 1947. They were married the next year.
In 1938, Eddy's dad had turned the upstairs of the house into an apartment for his sister, Betty Steeb. Eddy and Janet took over the apartment after they got married and lived there for four years. Then they moved "out to the barn," Eddy's old favorite hangout. But now the barn was a home.
In 1965, they moved to Jackson Road and moved back in 1983.
The inside of the house is as majestic and glamorous on the inside as it is on the outside. It's 3,500 square feet (not counting the stunning sun porch or the finished basement) with one breathtaking room after another. "We had three people come and appraise the house and they wouldn't give us a figure because there was nothing in town to compare it to," Janet said.
Unlike a Victorian home, the rooms in the Going House are large and open. Many of the old pocket doors that slide instead of open are still around. They are thick and heavy but still work well despite their age.
The house is home to three different kinds of architecture. The outside structure of the living room is "Queen Anne," with the round turret.
The middle room or parlor is Italian featuring Italian curved windows. The downstairs bedroom features a touch of Greek architecture.
The second floor is now an apartment that the Goings rent. But the main floor and basement is all theirs.
"We used to have these big oak doors until my father got modern happy and threw them all in the dump," Eddy says, laughing. "And the only good floor in the house is in the dining room. It's the original hardwood floor and my mother had it covered up for 50 years. It's just beautiful."
The living room is the showcase of many showcases inside the house. A large fireplace dominates the big room with marble framing the outside. The crown molding and arch in the ceiling create a stunning place to relax and be with family. The dining room features the stunning hardwood floor and a just as stunning chandelier that came in pieces from New York and grabs your attention as soon as you walk into the room.
The parlor, where Eddy and Janet spend a lot of their time these days, has a huge bookcase that takes up nearly the entire wall. On the opposite wall is the large Italian windows that overlook the front porch. While many of the antiques and pieces in the house are old and historical, the Goings fit it all together nicely to create a home – not a museum.
The kitchen is the most modern room of the house without losing that traditional feel. It's also where the oldest piece of furniture, a tiger maple chest, is located. And at more than 200 years old it's hard to miss.
The basement also has hardwood floors and a stone fireplace along with a large living area and bathroom. There also is plenty of room for storage despite hosting three furnaces.
Eddy and Janet spend a good part of their summer in the sun porch, watching the local kids ride their bikes up to Dairy Queen or families heading to the park or to Main Street for lunch. You will see them though on the front porch during Dexter Daze and for some of the parades.
The sad news is that the house will not always be "The Going House."
Eddy's sister, who passed away, has two daughters, neither of which live in Dexter and have no interest in taking over the house. Eddy, 82, and Janet, 77, didn't have any kids and have no one to pass the house down to when the time comes.
But until then, they will enjoy the time they have in the house they love. Both are in good health and have no immediate plans on leaving.
"It's a high maintenance house and we don't know how long we can keep it up," says Janet. "But we get a lot of help from our friends. We just don't want to see it go down the tubes."
Neither does Dexter. Maybe that's why it's across the street from Monument Park. The house will forever be a monument to Dexter and the great people – such as the Goings – that help preserve the past.
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