This Creepy Abandoned House in Detroit Comes Alive for One Weekend

In case you weren’t aware, Detroit has taken quite the hit in the past couple of years. In fact, since 2005, one in three properties in the city of Detroit has become foreclosed. There are almost unmeasurable amounts of urban blight in the city as thousands of homes are just sitting there completely abandoned, with no one living in them outside of the occasional junkie.

As a result of this, crime in the inner city of Detroit is very rough and you can literally buy homes in the city for under $5,000. It is just an overall pretty rough place to be and the urban decay can lead you to believe that you are in a third world country within the U.S. But even when there are incredible amounts of urban decay, there is also rebirth.

One of these abandoned homes in Detroit has recently become the center of a weekend long flower festival. Florists from all over the country all flock to this one home and fill the forgotten and decaying house with flowers.

The flowers (which were all grown in this country) were on display in the house for visitors to stop and admire. Last fall, over 3,000 different people came by to check it out. But not only is the place a beautiful piece of art (which is now known as Flower House), it is also a way to open up a public dialogue. It was a great way to open a conversation about rebuilding and breathing new life into a community that really needs it. Now that we know a bit about the project, let’s take a closer look at the Flower House and how it came to be.

The Flower House originated as nothing but a regular, run down place in Detroit. But a team of florists and floral designers saw some potential in the house, and they felt it was perfect. Planning for the event began in May 2015 and through the next few summer months, the team worked to bring in flowers and arrange them beautifully around the house.

Then, from October 16 to 18, it was finally opened to the public. Some of the guests were botanists, very much into flowers and floral arrangements, and some were just curious as to what was going on there. The idea behind it was to support florists around the country and put great and American flowers and growers on display.

The event was also put on to bring a cool event to those in Detroit, even if it was only for the weekend. This also showed that new life can be brought to old and beat down buildings. After all the flowers and other plants were added, the home looked less like an abandoned home and more like a fairytale land. Each room had hundreds of different and cool flowers in it.

The house is now scheduled for demolition, but at least it had a great going away party.