Cultural Center Historic District

The Cultural Center Historic District is significant as the nucleus and seed of Detroit's cultural district. It is also significant for encompassing some of Detroit's most important civic architecture and important works of prominent architects. It is also significant as an important accomplishment during the City Beautiful movement of the early twentieth century. With considerable foresight, civic leaders purchased ideal sites for the future Detroit Public Library and Detroit Institute of Arts. Edward H. Bennet of Chicago and Frank Miles Day of Philadelphia were engaged by the City Plan and Improvement Commission to study the sites and prepare plans for developing them. These plans were published in 1913 in a brochure entitled 'A Center of Arts and Letters.' The completion of the Public Library, designed by Cass Gilbert, in 1921 and the Institute of Arts, designed by Paul Philippe Cret in 1927, created for Detroit the distinguished cultural center which satisfied the needs of the day. Though early plans for the cultural center called for related buildings to be clustered around the library and art museum, the cultural center remained unchanged until 1941 when the Horace H. Rackham Education Memorial Building, designed by Harley, Ellington and Day, was built directly south of the art institute across Farnsworth Street. The Rackham Building completes the trio of monumental buildings, similar in scale, character, materials and setback. Together, these three buildings provide a unique monumental streetscape for Detroit.

The Cultural Center Historic District consists of three buildings which form the nucleus of Detroit's Cultural Center area, located approximately two miles north of the central business district on Woodward Avenue, Detroit's major north-south thoroughfare. The three buildings are the Detroit Public Library, a white marble Italian Renaissance style building designed by Cass Gilbert (1859-1935) and built in 1915-1921; the Detroit Institute of Arts, a white marble Beaux Arts style building designed by Paul Philippe Cret (1876-1945) and built in 1921-1927; and the Horace H. Rackham Education Memorial Building, a limestone stripped classical structure built in 1941 according to the designs of the Detroit architectural firm of Harley, Effington and Day to house the Engineering Society of Detroit and the Extension Service of the University of Michigan. The Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Institute of Arts are located directly across Woodward Avenue from one another with the Rackham Building located directly south of the Institute of Arts at the corner of Farnsworth Street and Woodward Avenue. Together the three buildings form an impressive complex with similar setbacks, size, scale, materials, and character.