Innovative Artistic Touches Transforming the Complexion of Foreclosed Houses
Innovative artistic touches are transforming the complexion of foreclosed houses and the entire neighbourhood. It is a ray of sunshine in the middle of a decaying automobile industry, increasing unemployment and thousands of foreclosures in Detroit. But Mitch Cope together with his wife Gina is endeavouring to change the scene tackling the houses one by one.
About four years ago the couple had bought a house in the northern parts of Detroit. Since then they have been taking the help of artists from across the globe to buy the foreclosed units in the locality and give it a new touch.
The house of the Copes was a 1920 brick one – a Polish delicatessen. The garage has retained its distinct look of a deli storefront. The house is a mile distant from their own design store. The residents are mostly Polish and Ukrainian with a recent sprinkling of Bangladeshi immigrants.
Mitch Cope remarked, “People who have been in the neighborhood for a long time talk about how great the neighborhood used to be; you didn’t have to lock your doors.” But he did not let the matter rest on a negative note and said, “OK, so it’s gotten worse. … But now what? Let’s do something. Let’s have fun.”
The couple started off in a small way. Tired of looking at the discoloured gray fence across the street they started to paint it a bubblegum pink. Some neighbours also joined in. Next they focused on a foreclosed unit standing a little further on. It was single-family house put up for sale with an asking price of $1,900. The property had been badly vandalized and stripped of any scrap that could be resold – copper wires, plumbing, radiators, electricity lines etc. The decided to convert it into a “Power House Project.” Cope explained, “Our idea — instead of putting it all back and connecting to the grid, we wanted to keep it off the grid and get enough solar and wind turbines and batteries to power this house and power the next-door house.” He is optimistic that it can be done with a budget of $60,000 – an amount that he expects to recover from grants.
Cope has more plans. He wants the first floor of this Power Hose to operate as a local art centre and the second floor as living quarters for the visiting artists. He is confident that once he can tempt the artists to visit the locality they will want to stay on and the cheap property prices will be an added incentive.
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