Lafayette Park will commemorate the development's actual ground-breaking with a series of events on its 50th anniversary, October 16.
At 11 a.m., city officials, residents and some of the original project developers will re-enact the 1956 groundbreaking ceremony at the Pavilion Apartments at the corner of Rivard and Antietam. From 1-3 p.m., a walking tour of the community will be given by Neil McEachern, including the park, select homes and the Dequindre Cut.
A Civic Dialogue + Design Symposium entitled "Lafayette Park Detroit: The Hidden Model" will be held from 4-6 p.m. at the Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute, Inc. at the corner of Antietam and Rivard. Constance Bodurow, a resident who has been involved in the planning of the event, hopes that it "engages young people, and gets them involved in design and creative fields." She feels that Lafayette Park has been such a successful example of urban renewal because of the collaborative relationship of the planner, architect and landscape architect as well as the communal ownership structure of the housing.
The evening will conclude with the screening of two films—one created by a former resident about urban architecture and another about Mies van der Rohe's architectural legacy.
LP50, the neighborhood group producing the series of events, can be reached at 313.510.0350.
Source: Joanne Givens and Constance Bodurow, LP50
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