Hour Detroit Magazine: Wall to Wall Art
Park West Gallery and Dearborn’s The Henry team up to decorate a ’boutique’ hotel
HOUR DETROIT MAGAZINE — When the four-star hotel in Dearborn’s Town Center was part of the Ritz-Carlton chain, it had a multipurpose space known as The Gallery. In 2010, the facility changed hands, becoming the Henry Hotel Autograph Collection, and the new owners decided to retain the room’s name.
Then a real gallery moved in.
“When they said, ‘We’d like to put you down here,’ I asked, ‘What’s the Gallery?'” recalls Mike Snodgrass, the curator employed by Southfield’s renowned Park West Gallery to maintain what’s believed to be the largest in-house art collection at any hotel in the world. “They said, ‘That’s a function room! We can’t give you that room!’
“I said, ‘But it’s … the Gallery! … People are going to walk in and ask, ‘Where’s the gallery?’ And they’ll be looking for me over there.”
Eventually, they reached a compromise: The room is still known as “The Gallery,” but now it actually looks like a gallery, replete with gentle track lighting and complementary paintings adorning every wall.
But the Henry’s fine art isn’t confined to one area, or even two… Continue reading online →
