Detroit’s famed Heidelberg Project is slowly being destroyed by fire.
On Tuesday morning, a suspicious blaze obliterated the “House of Soul” on Elba Street, leaving a pile of singed debris, Mike Campbell reports on WWJ-AM. That's the house that was covered with records.
The House of Soul was located about a block away from the project’s main area on Heidelberg Street, near Mt. Elliott and Mack Avenue, on the city’s East Side.
Arson is suspected.
Serena Maria Daniels reports in the Detroit News Tuesday’s blaze at the Heidelberg is the fifth fire this year. Last month, a fire burned the Obstruction of Justice House, otherwise known as the O.J. House, the second time that house had been charred. It had been previously damaged during a May fire.
Two other smaller fires were also reported this year, causing mostly smoke damage to the Penny House and the Numbers House, which also serves as the site’s welcome center and gift shop. Other suspicious fires broke out prior to 2013.
The Heidelberg Project was started by artist Tyree Guyton in 1986 as a folk-art reaction to Detroit's blight, which had already ravaged his neighborhood. The fires that could end up destroying the installation are part of the forces that have laid waste to the blocks the Heidelberg.
The installation is viewed by 250,000 visitors each year, and has brought fame to Guyton, who has been celebrated in the art capitals of the world.
After the OJ house was destroyed, left, Guyton posted a statement on the Heidelberg's website that expressed sympathy with the arsonist.
Saturday’s fire was an act of arson committed by the same young man that set the fabled OJ House ablaze in May of this year, only this time the structure was leveled, Guyton wrote.
For this young man, we have a message:
We want you to know that we understand your pain. We realize that all you’ve grown to know is destruction and that you see no way out. This is precisely why we are here. Our work is not about tangible “things,” it is about the Power of the Human Spirit.We recognize that there is a fire in you and we are here not to extinguish it, but to offer you a better reason to fuel it. Though you have tried, you cannot destroy the Heidelberg Project; it’s bigger than all of us now. Instead, we invite you to join our family in creating a better neighborhood, a better Detroit, if not for anyone else than for yourself. As Tyree has said, “If you believe, you can change it…” We believe.
On Oct 16, Guyton traveled to New York City for the opening of his one-man exhibition at the Cue Art Foundation, ironically titled, "Faces of God on Fire."
“We leave the Detroit community with a continued message of hope and inspiration,” Guyton write at the time. “We export that hope wherever we go. We will not be stopped.”
