My sister and I recently took a trip to Detroit, Michigan. Driving around the city, I saw a lot of abandoned buildings and signs of neglect. But I also saw efforts made by residents of the city to turn their communities around. The Heidelberg Project, pictured in these photographs, was started in 1986 by the artist Tyree Guyton as a creative response to the blight and decay he saw in his neighborhood. His work, using paint and salvaged objects he found on the street to decorate the houses in his neighborhood, turned the once-threatened area into a tourist destination. Walking around the block with my sister made me wish that there could be more projects like this in other struggling cities.
44 Comments
it’s fair to say that the teddy bear one in #4 is the stuff of dreams!
This place is kinda creepy, but photos are wonderful!
wow the photos are really rad! This definitely should be done in other cities
The house in #7 looks so cool!
TEDDY BEARS! AND DOTS! AND COLOURS! so great. where do people get these awesome ideas?! that’s just so inspiring.
Nice! Glad to see some Detroit love :)
Florence + the Machine just played in Detroit on Tuesday and Florence commented that the band visited Heidelberg and how amazing she thought it was. So this was a perfect week to post this!
Florenceeeeee <3
detroit <3 <3 <3
That fourth photo just made my stare at the screen.
It’s just…i don’t know.
Amazing, the whole concept, the photos, wow!
<3
I think Charlotte was telling me about the stuffed animal one recently when we met! It’s so cool! I really love it and the polka-dot one! They’re kinda creepy but awesome and I love creepy stuff!!!
This looks like an amazing place to visit.
Beautiful pictures !!
can we still submit for On the road ?
Yes, please do!
great !
the 4th, 5th and 7th pictures are amazing, that teddy bear house looks so creepy/cool.
I agree, there should definitely be projects like this where there’s lots of abandoned houses.
This is SO great!!!!
This is super interesting. I especially love number seven
on a completly unrelated side note I went to a thrift stre for the frost time today and I completlly Understand why your always raving about it <3
Good golly these are cool. Do people still live in them?
fascinating
Number seven is my favorite. This project reminds me of the Watts Towers in Los Angeles
Love, Evan
This is so cool! I love number four, even if it looks really creepy
picture four is.. amazing, like it freaked me out in a good way (if that even makes sense?) !!
stuffed animals!!
lizlayton.wordpress.com
So beautiful<3
this is so cool! I want to go and explore all of the houses in this neighborhood. what a great way to make a statement.
I love the Stuff Toys house.
It’s just so rad. And amazing and the place is a work of art.
Wow.. this is breathtaking. Number 4 is amazing.
ooh i love this. it has a creepiness to it.
Cool! The polka dot house is my fave!
Florence,(of the machine), was just tweeting about the project the other day and signed on of those houses! :)
oh my goodness this is amazing!!!
really creepy, really amazing.
Omg they are beautiful!!!
Whoa, I wish people could do this on normal homes. Spray paint like there’s no tomorrow.
need to see so much more of this. truly amazing!
This REALLY makes me want to go to Detroit…
All this is really beautiful but the third one is so creepy! It makes me feel like they are going to turn alive…
so fantastical. everything. i’d really love to go there!! it just look super<3
Ahh! That is so great!
this is awesome! i am utterly obsessed. i wanna go there. or i wanna do this somewhere else! inspiration!
also, when will the rookie t-shirts be available? mucho thx.
I remember reading somewhere that each teddy bears on the teddy bear house represents a child victim of a drive-by shooting, which lends the house a truly melancholy air. It makes it even worse when you count how many teddy bears there are. This project is really interesting, and I love that there is a story behind every house.
Detroit is actually full of awesome art, urban renewal, and other suprises! Check out to explore what else is happening.
this makes my heart happy.