The Detroit Institute of Art and The Public Library The Detroit Institute of Arts is the centerpiece of a parade of civic buildings lining Woodward Avenue. This is the civic and collegiate artery of the city; the central one of five highways fanning out from downtown towards affluent suburbs and into open country. A parade of handsome and well kept institutions - the Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit Institute of Art, the main library and Wayne State University - preside grandly here and belie the popular image of the city in ruins. They are the centre of a Midtown renaissance of boutiques, cafes and private galleries.
The Detroit Institute of Art The modern extension to the DIA, by Michael Graves & Associates, works marble from the same quarry as the original building into a striking re-interpretation of this traditional material. Seams in the stone are mirrored to create a repeating symmetrical pattern making the extension a singular but subtle compliment to the original museum. Finished in 2007, the extension highlights high quality civic investment in culture; a part of the Detroit story that is grievously lacking from much of the city's coverage. Like many of the handsome civic buildings lining Woodward Avenue the DIA is surrounded by accessible and well-designed public space. The city's large blocks are structured around cars but this path cuts across the lush lawns outside the museum's modern wing to create a short pedestrian route across the corner. Space is the one thing Detroit currently lacks the least and if the city can succeed in rolling this kind of modest but appropriate public space design out over the rest of Midtown and Downtown it could become a beacon of civic planning.
The College for Creative Studies Detroit's College for Creative Studies is renowned internationally as one of the best for car design and produces more automotive design professionals than any other in the world.
Wayne State University and CCS Students Wayne State University is made up of 100 buildings forming a city-wide campus and beams Motor City-era confidence. The CCS and Wayne State Universities seem to be the main social forces in this part of Detroit's Midtown with student activity keeping the fine public spaces around the museums occupied.
The Danish Consulate This building was built by the art collector and industrialist Charles Lang Freer in 1890 and is now in the hands of the Danish Consulate.
The Inn on Ferry Street The land forming this street was once the Ferry Seed Farm but was subdivided in the late 19th century to form plots for generous family homes with a minimum selling price of what would now be over $750,000. This was Detroit accelerating towards the height of its economic might, 20 years before the founding of the Ford Motor Company, and swallowing agricultural land around the then compact city of 100,000 on the waterfront. Now, ironically, Ferry is relatively rare for being a street with no empty plots. The street now operates as a single hotel preserving an intact set of historical records for posterity with all rooms at The Inn on Ferry booked for two months straight.
The Inn on Ferry The land forming this street was once the Ferry Seed Farm but was subdivided in the late 19th century to form plots for generous family homes with a minimum selling price of what would now be over $750,000. This was Detroit accelerating towards the height of its economic might, 20 years before the founding of the Ford Motor Company, and swallowing agricultural land around the then compact city of 100,000 on the waterfront. Now, ironically, Ferry is relatively rare for being a street with no empty plots. The street now operates as a single hotel preserving an intact set of historical records for posterity with all rooms at The Inn on Ferry booked for two months straight.
The Inn on Ferry The land forming this street was once the Ferry Seed Farm but was subdivided in the late 19th century to form plots for generous family homes with a minimum selling price of what would now be over $750,000. This was Detroit accelerating towards the height of its economic might, 20 years before the founding of the Ford Motor Company, and swallowing agricultural land around the then compact city of 100,000 on the waterfront. Now, ironically, Ferry is relatively rare for being a street with no empty plots. The street now operates as a single hotel preserving an intact set of historical records for posterity with all rooms at The Inn on Ferry booked for two months straight.