Heidelberg Project

Outdoor art environment built across abandoned houses

Address 3600 Heidelberg St, Detroit, MI 48207

The Heidelberg Project is two blocks of an East Side residential street that artist Tyree Guyton has been turning into a sprawling outdoor installation since 1986. Polka-dotted houses, junk-art assemblages, a stuffed-animal forest, painted clocks, and the famous "Dotty Wotty House" all sit on land that was once full of abandoned homes. It is part urban renewal, part defiance, part folk art on a vast scale.

The project has been declared one of the world's largest outdoor environments. It is free and open to walk through any day, though the staffed visitor centre keeps shorter hours. The neighbourhood around it is quiet and residential — be respectful.

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A story
Artist Tyree Guyton began nailing junk objects to abandoned houses on his grandfather's street in 1986 to draw attention to the decline of the neighbourhood. The city has demolished parts of the project twice and arsonists have burned several houses, but Guyton keeps rebuilding.

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