Executive Committee Meeting 10-15-24

President's Report

Page 42 of 95

EXPLORE DETROIT

MILWAUKEE JUNCTION & NEW CENTER

and influences (Motown, synth pop, afro-futurism, gospel, Chicago house music ) and the context of the emergence of the genre: the election of the first African-American mayor of Detroit, Coleman Young, in 1973, along with the White Flight (mass departure of white inhabitants from the city). Record sleeves, photos, synthesizers, drum machines, and decks are exhibited with their history. You will find names you might expect (Kraftwerk, Daft Punk) along with some you might not (Star Trek, Marvin Gaye), all joined by raft of anecdotes. Exhibit 3000 is also a place of work and creation. Some of techno’s most famous tracks have been laid down in its recording studios, and in its offices the distributor Submerge has major techno labels under its wing, such as Underground Resistance, founded by Mike Banks. The store is full of gems ( T Addresses) . NEW CENTER a BC1-2 Centered west of the intersection of Woodward Ave and Grand Blvd, this district reached its apogee in the 1920s, after the installation of the General Motors

a 30-minute film, visitors get to discover cars from Ford and its competitors (Brush, Studebaker, Maxwell, Dodge, etc.) on two levels. Henry Ford’s office has been recreated, as has the workshop where the Model T was designed. Exhibit 3000 a D1 3000 E. Grand Blvd - Q Line Grand Blvd - t 313 972 3000 - www.submergedownload.com - Shop and museum accessible by reservation only, at least 48 hours in advance or by following a guided tour such as that of Detroit Musix ( T p. 124). Equally unmissable in another genre, this building, which is indistinguishable from its neighbors, is a must for lovers of techno music : since 2002, it has been home to the world’s only museum dedicated to this music genre, emerging in Detroit in the early 1980s. The tour is accompanied by a specialist, usually a DJ, which makes it a fascinating experience. The history of the movement is traced through several showcases that hark back to the founding fathers—Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Eddie Fowlkes—, the sources of inspiration

headquarters. It developed near the Milwaukee Junction factories, close to the railway, and not far from Downtown where land was more expensive. It is also less than a mile from the chic neighborhood of Boston-Edison which, in the 1910s-1920s, was home to elegant residences where car owners such as Henry Ford lived (140 Edison Ave) . You often come across the name of architect Albert Kahn in New Center, a district that remains dedicated to trade and commerce . Cadillac Place a C2 3044 W. Grand Blvd - Q Line Grand Blvd. 1919–1922, Albert Kahn. For a long time, the name General Motors stood atop the 67 m-high summit of this gigantic complex. As the architect himself recognized, the project, planned on land that was acquired at a rock-bottom price, offered him the rare luxury of working without having to worry about space-saving or profitability. The result? A neoclassical-style edifice that was, in its day, one of the largest office buildings ever constructed. The building consists of four parallel structures of 15 floors, standing on an arched base. This cut-out design allowed it to have lots of individual offices with windows. The GM headquarters, crowned with a Corinthian colonnade forming two additional levels, also featured swimming pools, a showroom, an auditorium, and shops, all in a sumptuous decor of rare marble.

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Ph. Orain/Michelin

One of the two galleries of the Fisher Building.

After the erection of the Fisher Building ( T p. 56) , an underground passageway connected the two buildings, and was extended to the New Center Building, now Albert Kahn Building (7430 Second Ave) , also built in 1931 for the Fishers. In 2000, after GM moved to the RenCen ( T p. 18) , the building was renovated On the other side of the street, take a look at the Argonaut Building a ( 485 E. Milwaukee Ave ), today the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education. Also designed by A. Khan, this beautiful Art Deco building was GM’s research lab. to accommodate state offices, and assumed its new name.

The New Girl with the Earring Raised in and by Detroit, as she likes to say, the oeuvre of artist Sydney G. James can be found in the city’s museums and galleries as well as on the walls of several cities around the US ( T p. 38) . In 2020, the muralist created her most visible and largest work (743 m²) on the facade of a nine-story building on Grand Boulevard, reinterpreting Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring (1665). This Black woman proudly wearing the city's emblematic “D” in her ear, painted by a Black muralist, pays tribute to the courage and nobility of the city’s people. Girl with the D Earring - 2937 E. Grand Blvd (right from Woodward Ave).