Charles Lang Freer House

01 / The story of this place

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Industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer built this home on East Ferry Avenue in 1892 and filled it with one of the finest collections of Asian and American art in the country, including James McNeill Whistler's celebrated Peacock Room, which he bought in 1904 and installed as a showcase inside the house. Freer lived here until his death in 1919, entertaining artists and collectors and building the collection he later donated to found the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. — where the Peacock Room itself now lives. In 1920 the house became home to what is today Wayne State University's Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, which still uses it for offices and meetings. The building occasionally opens to the public for lectures, receptions and guided tours.

1. Built in 1892 for industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer
2. Once displayed Whistler's Peacock Room, now at the Smithsonian
3. Freer lived here until his death in 1919
4. Home to Wayne State's Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute since 1920
5. Open periodically for public tours and lectures