Among the new members: a British bird trainer, a Prussian architect, a candy maker, chiropractor, glazier, and even a state supreme court justice from California--they all boarded together in an architectural mash-up of Victorian, Gothic, and Prussian styles. Roofs sloped at varying gradients, or didn’t slope at all. Those flattest roofs were later blamed on members from warmer climates who had not yet suffered a Michigan winter when they drew up plans.

A bizarre compound emerged. One house was sparkly; another, like a magnified gingerbread house, topped with turrets and minarettes. The smallest building effected a pagoda and was used as a milliner's shop and monkey cage before it was razed.