Archive Description:
Heidelberg Project:
The Heidelberg Project is an outdoor art environment/art installation by artist Tyree Guyton on Heidelberg street, on Detroit's east side. Guyton started the project as a response to the deterioration of his own neighborhood, as wells many other Detroit neighborhoods after years of decline. Through the project, Guyton hoped to raise awareness of the decay of inner-city neighborhoods and the effects of urban sprawl.
Guyton grew up on the Heidelberg Street and returned on 1986, starting the project by cleaning up vacant lots with his grandfather. Using discarded items they collected, and with the help of neighborhood children, Guyton and his grandfather transformed abandoned houses and vacant lots into massive pieces of art. Guyton also integrated the street, sidewalks, and trees into an enormous work of art, officially calling it the "Heidelberg Project". The project initially received unfavorable critical reviews and the City of Detroit ordered him to remove his installations. Guyton persevered and has since received many award for his efforts. Throughout the years, Guyton continued to update and expand the Project, which eventually grew to encompass two city blocks. Sone disliked the attention drawn to their neighborhood, while others simply thought of the project's installations and junk.
In November 1991 Mayor Coleman Young, gave an order to demolish three of the project's houses, the Baby Boy House, Fun House and Truck Stop. Eight years later, in 1999, Mayor Dennis Archer also ordered three more houses to be demolished, Your World, Happy Feet, and Canfield House. Unfortunately, a series of unresolved arson fires between 2003 and 2015 destroyed 12 of his artistic houses on Heidelberg Street. Only two of the original project houses remain, the Dotty-Wottyhouse and the Numbers House.
Sources: The Detroit Historical Society, Three Guyton Spirit Inner State Gallery Publication.