Midtown Detroit / Museum District
Cultural Center/Museum District
The Cultural Center/Museum District is a historic district located in Detroit, Michigan, which includes the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and several other buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. The district contains several cultural attractions and museums.
Detroit Institute of Arts
www.Detroit Institute of Arts Museum
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers 658,000 square feet.
The DIA collection is regarded as among the top six museums in the United States with an encyclopedic collection which spans the globe from ancient Egyptian and European works to contemporary art. Its art collection is valued at $8.1 billion US Dollars according to a 2014 appraisal. The DIA campus is in Detroit’s Cultural Center Historic District, near Wayne State University.
The campus is part of the city’s Cultural Center Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The museum’s first painting was donated in 1883 and its collection consists of over 65,000 works. With about 677,500 visitors annually for 2015, the DIA is among the most visited art museums in the world.
In 2023, the USA Today Top 10 Reader’s Choice Awards named the DIA as the best museum in the United States. (Best Art Museum Winners (2023) | USA TODAY 10Best)
Detroit Historical Museum
www.Detroit Historical Society
The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the city’s Cultural Center Historic District in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembly line, toy trains, fur trading from the 18th century, and much more.
A new permanent exhibit opened in 1995 – The Motor City Exhibition. This exhibit traces Detroit’s development into the Automobile Capital of the World and includes an operating assembly line with a two-story body drop from the General Motors Cadillac Division Clark Street Plant.
Michigan Science Center
The Michigan Science Center is a Smithsonian-affiliate science museum in Detroit, Michigan. Boasting over 220+ interactive activities, live stage shows, pop-up pocket demonstrations and distance-learning programs, the Michigan Science Center is a community STEM hub serving the entire state through virtual and traveling science programs.
The Michigan Science Center features an IMAX Dome Theatre; the Dassault Systèmes Planetarium; the Toyota Engineering 4D Theater; the DTE Energy Sparks Theater; the Chrysler Science Stage; a 8,700-square-foot Science Hall for traveling exhibits; exhibit galleries focusing on space, life and physical science; the United States Steel Fun Factory; an exhibit gallery just for pint-size scientists; and more.
Wright Museum of African American History
www.Wright Museum of African American History
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, is located inside the Midtown Cultural Center is one of the world’s oldest independent African American museums.
Founded in 1965, The Wright Museum holds the world’s largest permanent collection of African-American culture. With a collection of more than 35,000 artifacts, The Wright’s current 125,000-square-foot museum opened as the largest museum in the world dedicated to African American history.
Detroit Public Library Main Branch
The Detroit Main Public Library was built in 1921. Designed by Cass Gilbert, the Detroit Public Library was constructed with Vermont marble and serpentine Italian marble trim in an Italian Renaissance style. The exterior is faced with white marble and the interior is decorated with murals, tiles, and mosaics.
The Main Library is part of Detroit’s Cultural Center Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places adjacent to Wayne State University campus and across from the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Among his other buildings, Cass Gilbert designed the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
Fisher Building
www.Fisher BuildingOne of the most recognizable sights on Detroit’s skyline, the Fisher Building is also known as “The Golden Tower.”
The Fisher brothers spared no expense in its creation, hiring world-class architects, engineers, builders, craftspeople, and artists.
As a result, the Fisher Building’s marble-clad façade, three-story, hand-painted, barrel-vaulted ceiling, spectacular mosaics, and extensive bronze detailing has earned it recognition as “Detroit’s Largest Art Object.”