A partially collapsed building on the grounds of Detroit’s Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum was demolished Tuesday by orders from the city of Detroit, bringing a brief but passionate struggle to a close.
The museum owns nearly an entire city block at the corner of Grand River and West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, formerly composed of five buildings (now four, with Tuesday’s demo). One houses the gallery and shop known to the public as the bead museum. Another holds a retail outlet which sells clothing. Another, the middle unit, holds the museum’s massive complete collection as well as office space.
The structure that was demolished suffered a partial collapse over a decade ago, but suddenly came to the attention of city officials when museum founder Olayami Dabls launched an online effort to crowdfund a massive repair of the building. When city workers visited the site and discovered it posed a danger to passersby and neighboring buildings, demolition was ordered.
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A local, grassroots effort to rescue the building from the wrecking ball seemed to gain a foothold last week when a last-minute stay of demolition was granted not as a result of protests but because Dabls filed an appeal within the allowed time window before the demo was to take place. After a few days of deliberation, late Monday it was ordered that the building would be taken down all the same. A demolition crew arrived early Tuesday to begin work.
“There have been some incidents in the city where buildings have collapsed and injured people,” Dabls told the Free Press in late June. “They decided on the side of caution and not taking that chance anymore. It’s just bad luck on my part.”
Tuesday evening, city of Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) director David Bell issued an emailed statement on the demolition.
“A decision was rendered by the Department of Appeals & Hearings to move forward with the emergency demolition of the cited dangerous building on the DABLS MBAD property site,” the statement read. “We were able to provide due process and we look forward to what has been a longtime partnership with DABLS who has been commissioned by the City for years. Currently, DABLS is part of the $5.4-million ARPA Arts Alley Project. We are a city that is committed to preserving art forms but not at the risk of public health and safety. We will continue to work with this iconic artist as we always have and will await plans for proposed projects on the site."
"As mentioned prior, it is important for people to understand that this was an entirely separate building from the DABLS MBAD African Bead Museum, which was not affected by today’s demolition. The building posed an immediate threat to public safety. Our primary concern was and always is the health, safety and welfare of residents and public who may visit the area.”
Dabls was unresponsive to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Collapsed building on African bead museum site demolished after brief struggle
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