Triumph: Cultural Center
The Detroit Museum of Art was originally located downtown on Jefferson Avenue — a space that it quickly outgrew. In 1910, museum directors sought out a new location, finally settling on a residential stretch of Woodward Avenue one and a half miles from downtown. That year, Andrew Carnegie announced a $750,000 donation to build central and branch libraries in Detroit. Seeing an opportunity to establish an arts district for future generations, the city purchased land across the street from the museum site in 1912. The City Plan and Improvement Commission hired architects Edward H. Bennett and Frank Miles Day to create a site plan. They recommended that the city obtain enough space to reflect the buildings' monumental nature, and to accommodate future expansions. The main library, designed by Cass Gilbert, opened in 1921, followed by Paul Philippe Cret's Detroit Institute of Arts, opened in 1927. The complementary buildings now anchor the city's Cultural Center.
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