Detroiters already know Wallside Windows as the family-owned Michigan company to trust when it comes time to replace their own home windows. But Wallside’s work now extends to one of the city’s most iconic homes – and works of art.
When it came time to update the windows at a special location within Detroit’s Heidelberg Project, the team at Wallside Windows was honored to be chosen as the window company entrusted with the job.
The Heidelberg Project started as an outdoor art environment located on the 3600 block of Heidelberg Street in Detroit’s McDougall-Hunt neighborhood. Founded by Artist Tyree Guyton in 1986, the project began as a way to use found object art to transform his neighborhood from urban blight to a living museum. In the early ‘90s the Heidelberg Project was incorporated as a nonprofit organization focused on community revitalization and improving lives through art. The Heidelberg Project now has five full time staff and, in 2022 alone, the arts education and career programs served more than 450 local youth, ages 9 to 18.
Among the most notable and recognizable locations within the project is Guyton’s own Dotty Wotty House. This is the house Guyton grew up in and where he first started to reimagine the street into what is now The Heidelberg Project with his grandfather, Sam Mackey.
Wallside Windows replaced windows on one of the most famous houses in Detroit – a work of art known as the Dotty Wotty House, part of The Heidelberg Project.
“The Heidelberg Project is a Detroit treasure and chose Wallside Windows to replace the windows at the Dotty Wotty House” said Adam Blanck, president of Wallside Windows.
Blanck promised no less than “only the best for this home. Only Wallside.” And that’s just what Wallside delivered.
Andrew Sturm serves as chair of The Heidelberg Project Board of Directors, and has been a board member since 2006. He says the work Wallside Windows completed on the Dotty Wotty House and the support the company has consistently shown for this artistic project made it possible to not only secure the house where The Heidelberg Project began but to secure its legacy too.
“We believe that The Heidelberg Project is a Detroit and national treasure, and that the history of the whole project needs to be preserved for generations to come,” Sturm says. “We believe that Dotty Wotty House should ultimately be a museum and archive of the project that is open to the public - and securing the integrity of the house with new windows is a key step in that direction.”
We’re proud to be a family-owned Michigan business and were thrilled to do the kind of work we do best for an iconic location within Detroit’s art community. To learn more about the Heidelberg Project, or to donate, visit www.heidelberg.org.
Artist Tyree Guyton called the work Wallside completed “unbelievable.”
“I’m an artist by training and I would say – and this is coming from my heart – (at Wallside) they are also artists,” shared Guyton. “It was just unbelievable. I like the way they operate. They create beauty and that’s what I have done here. This is a work of art. That’s another reason why Wallside is here, because they understand.”
Sturm said the board has been so pleased to work with Wallside, “a family-owned, Michigan-based company, because they understand the 35+ years that Tyree and The Heidelberg Project organization have spent reimagining the street and working with local youth through our arts programming.”
And for this window replacement, Wallside Windows was pleased to donate both the materials and labor for the new windows at the Dotty Wotty House. It’s all part of their commitment to the community.
Sturm added: “That means we can put our precious resources where they matter most - engaging and educating the youth of our local neighborhoods and exposing them to arts training and career programs that will benefit them the rest of their lives.”
Is your home in need of new replacement windows? Contact Wallside Windows for a free estimate. Schedule yours today.
To learn more about the Heidelberg Project, or to donate, visit www.heidelberg.org
