Guide books may inform you that wherever you are in the city of Paris, you seldom have to walk more than 1,000 meters to get to a Metro stop. Detroit cannot boast about its rail transportation system for passengers. But Detroit residents can confidently assert that you seldom have to walk more than 1,000 meters in the Motor City to find an architecturally significant building, an important historical site or a memorable example of public art. A marvelous example is the stainless steel creation that you see in this picture.
During Mayor Dennis Archer’s administration in the late 1990s, the city’s government proposed a Millennium Legacy Gift for the city. In January, 1999, the Department of Cultural Affairs announced a competition for proposals to erect a major sculpture in downtown Detroit to commemorate the turn of the millennium. In July of that year, the selection jury chose a sculpture to symbolize and promote community spirit, fun and music. The Millennium Bell is a working public sculpture, albeit one that is sounded just once a year at midnight on December 31/January 1. Will any of us live long enough to hear the magnificent sculpture rung to signify a Lion’s victory in the Super Bowl?
This work is the achievement of two sculptors. Christopher Turner is a Detroit resident who learned his welding skills as a journeyman in Iron Workers Local #25. His works have been shown throughout Ontario and Michigan. Mathew Steven Blake studied at Wayne State and then earned his fine arts degree at the College for Creative Studies. As you study this sculpture, you appreciate its unusual but provocative shape. It is massive: at least 26 feet in height with a total weight of ten tons.
Sculptors: Christopher Turner and Mathew Steven Blake
Date of Unveiling: December 31, 1999
Composition: Stainless steel
Use in 2004: Public sculpture
City of Detroit Local Historic District: Not listed
State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites: Grand Circus Park Historic District
P25129
National Register of Historic Sites: Grand Circus Park Historic District; #83000894;
Listed in 1983
Photograph: Andrew Chandler; July, 2004