A decision on whether the collapsed building on the grounds of Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum will be demolished or rehabilitated is expected to be announced by the City of Detroit next week.
Founder Olayami Dabls appeared in a hours-long virtual hearing Wednesday for the city’s Department of Appeals and Hearings after the demolition of the building was paused earlier this week. Hearing Officer Joilynn Hunt said she will have a decision on the building within five days.
Last month, Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) Director David Bell said that the building on the corner of Grand River and Vinewood Street needed to be taken down immediately, calling it a safety hazard.
The damaged building is separate from the museum’s retail store and 18 outdoor installations, which is not under the demolition order.
Dabls told BridgeDetroit at the time that the cost to repair the building would have come with a hefty price tag – $400,000. To raise the money, he set up a GoFundMe page, which has raised $8,184 as of Friday afternoon.
On Tuesday morning, crews came out ready to demolish the building, but an appeal Dabls filed July 6 temporarily stopped the property from seeing the wrecking ball.
There was also a protest going on outside the museum Tuesday, organized by artist and activist Bryce Anderson-Small, better known as Bryce Detroit. He served as an advisor to Dabls at the hearing, saying that the museum has an actionable plan and that Dabls wants to use the building as an expanded gallery space. Small also said one of the museum’s other advisors, Leslie Tom, has filed a letter from a structural engineer who is advising on this project about the viability of the building.
“There are already funds committed to support the necessary step right now that at the very least, would remedy the concern brought on in this immediate demolition order,” he said.
However, city attorney Lorinda Lindsay said the building is in dire straits and in poor condition. City building inspector Ronald Youngblood later added that the roof has collapsed and that the building has several broken windows, several sections of the wall are loose or dislodged and has a leaning facade.
“Your honor, there are bricks that are pulling away and are at the mercy of potentially falling, the roof has collapsed,” Lindsay said. “Their own website indicates the poor condition of this building. It’s the city’s perspective that this building needs to be demolished.”
Preserving public art
Tanya Stephens, a cultural preservationist and a member of the board of directors for Preservation Detroit, has been assisting Dabls with the building process, from meeting with BSEED to helping with paperwork. She’s hoping there’s a way to preserve the artwork that adorns the building, which is a mix of colorful tiles, polka dots and intricate black and white designs.
Stephens wished the city prioritized the preservation of public art and that Dabl’s situation serves as a wake-up call. While Detroit established its Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship department in 2019, she said more could be done.
Stephens sees similarities between the situation with the museum and The Heidelberg Project, which has had a complicated relationship with the city for years. Former mayors Coleman Young and Dennis Archer ordered demolitions of some Heidelberg properties in 1991 and 1999.
Stephens also said public art can beautify the community. When Dabls opened his museum on Grand River in 1998, the block was neglected.
“He developed something that’s culturally significant to the community and then also, empowered, educated the community with this concept of African heritage and cultural heritage,” she said.
Dabls said he believed the hearing did not go well, but he is staying hopeful. Even if the the building does get demolished, he plans to rebuild.
“What disappoints me most is that building was going to be used to display the bead collection and it would have been the first time on this planet that many beads would have been in one room for all to see,” Dabls said.
While he waits for a decision from the city, Dabls will be busy doing what he loves–painting a mural for Oakland Avenue Urban Farm on the North End.
“It’s nice when somebody allows you to put a concept on their building,” he said.