How architect Rainy Hamilton helped build Detroit
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By Branden Hunter
rchitect Rainy Hamilton Jr., FAIA, NOMA, grew up in the area of Joy Road and Wyoming in Detroit. And if you know anything about the present-day Joy Road area, the 48204-zip code is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the nation. Hamilton spoke of a nicer time in his old neighborhood during the 1960s, when the crime rate was not as high, the lawns were manicured, and the streets were lined with elm trees. “Joy Road and Wyoming, and Tireman, when my family moved into the neighborhood when I was 6 or 7-years-old, was all white,” said Hamilton. “It was a large Jewish population in that Joy Road, Oakman area then and I was the only African-American at Barton Middle School, that I could recall. My father would walk halfway to the school to greet me and walk me home and he told me that since I was the only African-American student among the white students, he could easily pick me out of the crowd.” “That neighborhood was beautiful in that day. Over the years, the neighborhood has declined, as a lot of neighborhoods in Detroit have. It’s a different world over there now. There are a few stable blocks and others are in disrepair. It’s really sad.” Hamilton would love to see his old neighborhood restored to the days of his childhood, growing up on Roselawn Street. That has been his vision for all of Detroit for the past 24 years, as principal of Hamilton Anderson Associates. Ever since his mother bought him a model train as a child and he first studied
catalystdetroit.com | April 2019 | catalyst 5
