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Detroit Institute of Arts

Detroit Institute of Arts

Paul Philippe Cret, Gunnar Birkerts & Michael Graves

Photo: Sailko · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Client / Owner
City of Detroit
Year
Completed 1927
Access
Tickets required
Typology
Cultural

The Detroit Institute of Arts at 5200 Woodward Avenue opened in its present building on October 7, 1927. Paul Philippe Cret designed it in white marble, and the infobox calls it Beaux-Arts and Italian Renaissance. The museum covers 658,000 square feet (61,100 m²) with over 100 galleries and a 1,150-seat theater by C. Howard Crane.

Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry fresco murals, commissioned by Edsel Ford in 1932, are its best-known works. Gunnar Birkerts designed the south and north wings of 1966 and 1971. A $158 million renovation by Michael Graves and the SmithGroup, finished in 2007, refaced them in white marble.

During the city's bankruptcy in 2013 and 2014, a "grand bargain" avoided selling art. Residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties get free general admission.

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