A Nostalgic Look Back Inside the Legendary Auker Mansion of Grand Blanc

It's almost like one of those stories that kids tell when they are trying to scare their friends. The big house with the large gates keeping everyone out...it must be haunted have some sinister past, and everyone wants to take a look inside. Anyone that travels down Belsay Road in Grand Blanc has passed by the large stately home with the big gates.

Known to most as the Auker Mansion, there has always been speculation as to what really lies behind the ornate gates that keep guard over the sprawling house. Although sold in January 2021 for $1.7 million, people still love to think about what it was like when the original owner lived there.

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Owned most notably by builder and developer Eldon Auker, the Gatsby-style mansion, think art museum vibe. Something of a collector's showplace, it was once rumored to be sought after by none other than rocker Bob Seger. Those rumors have circulated around Grand Blanc since the early 80s and turned out to be nothing but that...rumors. Since it was sold, it's hard to know if the new occupants changed the decor or overall look of the home from what it once was, and what it once was, was magnificent in an eccentric type of way. When on the market the Zillow listing described it as,

 "Unrivaled French Architecture & detail throughout- tufted velvet rails, hand-bent wood spiral staircase, marble floors, silk padded walls, 9 fireplaces, exquisite moldings, imported hand-carved doors, leaded glass French doors, intricate ceilings, antique brick pavers, crystal chandeliers, malachite accented bath fixtures & solid doors."

Years ago I attended a private party at the home as a guest of Mr. Auker before he passed away. The home itself was like a museum, but it was the master suite that blew me away. Measuring 3000 sq. feet itself, which is about the size of an average home in Michigan,  it included soaring 20-foot ceilings, a sitting area, two fireplaces, and a sauna. The home resembled something that royalty would live in.

The 14,439 square foot estate also includes antique barns with stalls and tack room, towering lofts with over 20,000 sq. feet of space, a theatre, a wine cellar, and two complete attached apartments with a private entrance.

Take a look inside the Auker mansion as it was just a few years ago prior to the sale.