Jun 9, 20213 min read

3115 Plainfield Ave NE

Welcome, come inside! This is the story of a beautiful ranch styled home at 3115 Plainfield Ave NE! Thank you, Lissett, for this suggestion!

General Facts:

Built: 1935

City, State: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Neighborhood: Creston

Size: 3 beds/2 baths; ≈ 2000 sq. ft.

Google Maps - Blue Marker is the location of 3115 Plainfield; The red asterisk is Soft Water Lake

The house at 3115 Plainfield Ave NE is located on Soft Water Lake plat #22. Soft Water Lake is a very small inland lake in the North Park area of Grand Rapids. As the land maps from the 1870's and 1920's show above, that area was considered the "country" even though it was only four miles from downtown Grand Rapids.

The house is located on the corner of Plainfield Ave and Fuller Ave. Before the highway was built, as seen in the Sanborn Insurance Map below, Fuller Ave ended at Soft Water Lake. Today, the small street of Fuller Ave ends at the 96 highway.

1952 Sanborn Insurance Map of Soft Water Lake area

Google Map of the same area - Soft Water Lake - 2021

The first time Soft Water Lake appears in the Grand Rapids Press is in 1896 when John Green was selling his country farmhouse:

Additional Soft Water Lake articles from the GR Press:

The first article from the GR Press that mentions Soft Water Lake Plats - which 3115 Plainfield is part of Soft Water Lake Plat #22 - is 1925. It wasn't until the mid-1930's when more of the houses of that specific area were built and not until 1935 when 3115 Plainfield was built. Since this area was outside of the Grand Rapids City Limits, the address doesn't show up on the street index of the Grand Rapids directories and only some of the names of the residents appear. Therefore, you have to know who lived at the home to find them in the directory - I can't search by address.

Because of that reason, this post will be a little different than previous blog posts. I will list the name of the residents who I know lived in the house and the years I can verified they did live there. I won't be able find how long most of the families remained in the home, however.

Barclay Miller Ivanek

Born: February 7, 1922; Los Angles, CA

Died: April 27, 2001; Marion County, FL

Father: Boleslaw "Boles" Bertrand Ivanek (b. 1890; Russia - d. 1972; California)

Mother: Sarah Stiles (b. 1886; Michigan - d. 1964; Michigan)

The record of Barclay Ivanek living at 3115 Plainfield Ave NE is also the earliest record I found about the property - in 1938. In 1938, Barclay is 16 years old and received a traffic ticket for speeding. The newspaper article is below:

However, in 1938, there were no Ivanek listed in the GR Directory. The directory did list residents of GR Township. After much research on Barclay's parents, I found that Barclay's father, Bertrand, was a civil engineer that built houses. In the late 1920's and early 1930's, he had his own business, Ivanek Indorsed Homes. His wife, Ellen Stiles, was involved in the business as well as his brother-in-law, Walter B. Stiles.

In 1940, Barclay's parents divorced and the reason listed was desertion by the husband. I also found multiple newspaper articles that show Sarah Stiles selling Soft Water Lake plats to her brothers. After these articles and other documents, my theory is that Barclay's father built 3115 Plainfield Ave. When Barclay's mother left his father, they moved into 3115 Plainfield, since she already had part ownership of it, during the years leading to the settlement of the divorce. Barclay's father did not live in Grand Rapids in 1938 - he lived in California. Once the divorce was finalized in 1940, Barclay's mother sold her ownership of the Soft Water Plats to her brother.

Below are articles and documents about the Ivanek's family.