A view of the front of the Pewabic Pottery building from the parking lot amidst a heavy snow storm.
During the Christmas break of 2022, an intense period of cold temperatures in Michigan caused the pipes in the pottery’s upstairs restroom to burst. Extensive water damage impacted all three floors of the historic building, resulting in the loss of both main public restrooms.
As we worked to formulate the best course of action to restore these restrooms and impacted spaces, we weighed multiple factors: visitor experience and accessibility, immediate and long-term financial impacts on the organization, and how this project could best align with our mission of enriching the human spirit through clay.
View from the kiln room of the stairwell and women’s restroom right after the flood, where drywall was removed from walls and ceilings as part of the water damage restoration process.
Architectural rendering of the former first-floor women's restroom on the left, with a rendering of the proposed, reconfigured two single-use restrooms on the right.
By choosing to reconfigure the layout and incorporate Pewabic tile, we would be able to enhance the experience for generations of visitors to come!
Bathroom Reconfiguration Plan
The plan aimed to transform the first and second-floor restrooms – from a three-stall, women’s restroom on the first floor and a single-stall men’s restroom on the second floor, both of which were inaccessible – into three, all-gender restrooms, with the main, accessible restroom entrance in the store.
View of the accessible restroom mid-project with the walls prepped for tile installation.
Pewabic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and the next questions we explored focused on determining how these spaces could best embody our mission of enriching the human spirit through clay. So naturally our minds went to adding Pewabic tile – we would design and create functional art installations that allow visitors to experience the artistry and impact of handcrafted architectural tile. The Pewabic design team got to work dreaming up tile designs that would inspire visitors to the pottery.
Elevation renderings of the proposed tile design for the new accessible restroom entered from the Pewabic store.
Many individual donors stepped up to help, with gifts of all sizes. Thanks to their support and generous matching funds from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, we raised enough funds to reconfigure the spaces, move plumbing placements, open up the store wall to provide access, and create and install the tiles for the main restroom. We are in the process of fundraising to complete the two remaining restrooms.
Seeing it all come together
It has been quite the experience to watch the tiles get installed in the first restroom over the past two weeks. There is something magical about watching a tile design come to life before your eyes!
Tile installers Steve and Drew, from Rapasi Tile & Marble, Inc., laying out the tiles for the main feature wall under a tent in the courtyard.
This part of the process has us reflecting on the other major tile installations at the pottery and how this is quite a historic moment in our 121-year history. The pottery building was constructed in 1907 and it was not until the 1910s that the iconic tiled floors throughout the second-floor museum galleries were installed. We have to fast forward to the 1980s for the next notable installation. During this time, the newly formed Pewabic Society, Inc. (the nonprofit organization that operates the pottery today) was raising funds to tile the main gallery on the first floor and support the pottery so it could remain open to the public. You can still view the names of hundreds of donors who contributed during this crucial time.
(On Left) A view of the Pewabic store looking across the tiled floors from the 1980s fundraiser project. (On Right) A detailed view of some of the donor names imprinted on the border tiles found in the Pewabic Store floor.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors have walked on these tiled floors over our 121-year history, and we can’t help but imagine all of the future visitors who will enjoy the tiles we are installing now in the new restrooms.
(On Left) Tile installers Steve and Drew from Rapasi Tile & Marble, Inc. make sure the tiles line up on the feature wall in the accessible restroom. (On Right) Tile installer Steve smiles while grouting the final tile into the bathroom floor.
As the grout is applied and the finishing touches are completed on this first of three restrooms, we want to express our immense gratitude to everyone who donated to get these critical renovations to this point. It would not have been possible without each and every one of you. Thank you to every individual donor and to the Michigan Arts and Culture Council for providing the matching funds.
We invite you to join this community of Pewabic supporters to help raise the funds needed to finish the other two restrooms. Your donation will be appreciated by every visitor who utilizes them for years to come. Can we count on your support?
Thank you for supporting Detroit’s pottery.
A view of the bathroom's feature wall after grout was applied.
Comment
WOW! Congratulations on such a beautiful transformation through phenomenal artisan dedication! The fact that quality work is still valued and admired gives us all a sense of pride and hope for future generations!