Woodbridge carriage house becoming space for community, art

The Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corp. and Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit are renovating a historic Woodbridge carriage house on Warren just west of Trumbull. The home will be used for a community kiosk, exterior art installations and micro-gallery.

The owners of the carriage house, long-time Woodbridge residents, are leasing the structure to WNDC and CAID at a very low rate. In June, neighborhood volunteers teamed up with volunteers from Deloitte and Touche to replace the building's roof and clean it out.  

The exterior of the building will be utilized as a community meeting spot, "a Kern Clock type of place," says WNDC’s Edward Potas. There are plans to install a wayfinding map and there will be a place for event flyers to be posted. 

The carriage house will also have a 2-by-18-foot template for a rotating art installation that will be visible from Wayne State’s campus. Potas explains, "It's like a stripe up the side of the building with sight lines down Warren."

CAID will utilize the interior of the building for short-term shows, and is considering using the former attic woodshop for temporary studio space. “We could put a artist up there for a week, then show that work in the space,” says Aaron Timlin of CAID. CAID hopes to have completed sufficient interior renovations in time to offer tours during the Sep. 23 opening of their show entitled Shelter.  

Source: Edward Potas, WNDC and Aaron Timlin, CAID