I thought I’d introduce you all to a little bit of my home and probably the most memorable place in Detroit, The Heidelberg Project.

The project was started in 1986 by Tyree Guyton. As a young child, Tyree witnessed the 1967 riots in Detroit, which left much of the city in ruins and even now many areas of the city still remain abandoned ghettos. Guyton, his family and some neighborhood children began to clean up the neighborhood of Heidelberg street. Guyton used the collected refuse from the cleanup to change the abandoned houses on the street into a giant art installation. Over time the project has grown bigger and bigger with various other contributors. Although the project won numerous awards, the City of Detroit still demolished parts of the project on two occasions in 1991 and 1999.

There are some interesting photos on flickr, Heidelberg Project flickr photo set and also take a look at The Heidelberg Project homepage.

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