This home was designed by Malcomson & Higginbotham for William A. Pungs, a banker and auto executive.

He had this rock-faced, Romanesque Revival house built in 1891. The two-and-a-half story, gable-roofed house is built of gray St. Lawrence marble with a round conically-roofed tower and an arcaded side porch. There is a matching carriage house at the rear.

Pungs was born in Germany but brought to Detroit at age 3. He lived in the city the rest of his life.

He is credited with making the first four-cycle, two-cylinder engine in the country, in 1901. A year later, in 1902, the city was in danger of losing the financially struggling Detroit Tigers, but put up $18,000 to meet the mortgage and keep the ball club here.

Pungs was president of the Pungs-Finch Automobile Co. and the Central Savings Bank, as well as a charter member of the Detroit Board of Commerce and one of the first presidents of the Old Newsboys Association.

He died July 25, 1941, at age 92.

In 1934, the house became the dormitory for the Merrill-Palmer Institute.

Today, the house is part of the Inn on Ferry Street, a Bed and Breakfast establishment spread across a number of old Detroit mansions. The home is also part of the East Ferry Avenue Historic District.