Photo Du Jour – November 9, 2005 – RIP House of Nine
Over the past weekend, along with the destruction of historic Rivertown, another Detroit icon, come down. Located on Grand River, just west of Woodward was the bizzarre icon, the House of Nine Sign.
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="400px" width="1000px" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
The sign in Happier Times.
Looking along Grand River
RIP to a downtown icon.
Now, what the hell was the House of Nine anyway?
Recent Posts
2094 Willistead Cres
From the Border Cities Star - December 6, 1924, almost a century ago to the…
2177 Victoria Avenue
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes – 871 Ottawa
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
1156 Ouellette – Oswald Janisse House
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
White’s Restaurant & The Elbow Room – 33 Pitt Street East
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
4219 Wyandotte Street East
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
View Comments
My understanding is the House of Nine was a women's clothing store that sold exactly one size of clothing. Gotta wonder how they amnaged to stay in business...
Maybe is was a hoe house with eight good looking gals and one ugly one! :-)
House of Nine was a clothing store that carried 3 sizes of clothing~5,7,9. This became a place where small sized women could buy stylish items without having a "kiddish" look to them. Small women need shorter waistline, shorter skirts, sleeves etc. They opened long before "vanity sizing" came to the fore. House of Nine was really big in Boston,then opened stores in malls. When vanity sizing became the norm, short skirts came in, loose fitting garments were being worn, they lost their out front position. The mall stores were not well run etc. Too bad to see them go.
House of Nine was owned and operated by International Industries, a conglomerate that owned International House of Pancakes, Original House of Pies, Orange Julius, Sawyer Business School, United Rent All, Copper Penny, Loves BBQ and many other chains. The company closed most of its operations in the early 70's, IHOP being the only remaining operation. The company was purchased by an Austrian who was the "Colonel Sanders" of Europe. He went bust, the company was taken over by the banks and then went public again. Now known as Dine Equity. International was slightly ahead of its time, they got hit when they had to restate their earnings in 1971, they were accounting for all franchise sales as profits instead of amoritizing them.
From 1962 to approximately 1970 - I shopped at the House of Nine several times each week.
They carried several sizes - including 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9. I think the "0" & "1" sizes were for the ego. "Diana Ross & the Supremes" bought many of their outfits at the House of Nine, and I occasionally bumped into them. You would access the Downtown Detroit store by stairs from the sidewalk (no elevator)-- It was on the 2nd floor and had quite a small space. Most clients were "regulars" and the prices were high for the times. However, the quality and design was excellent. I remember many of the tags & labels read "House of Nine of California". Maybe that's why I moved to California! The House of Nine will forever remain a Favorite!!
Was the House of Nine owned by the Geller family originally?