What is lost when an urban area is “renewed?”
That’s the question being asked by an exhibition called “Black Bottom Street View,” on display at the Detroit Public Library s Main Branch through March 15.
University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture professor Emily Kutil used a treasure trove of old photographs to recreate the long-gone Detroit residential area known as Black Bottom.
The neighborhood was the center of the city’s black community until it was torn down in the 1950s as part of an urban renewal effort that eventually included the construction of Interstate 75.
Kutil’s display groups photos by location to simulate the experience of walking through the streets of 1940s Black Bottom.