East Ferry Avenue Historic District

The Institute of Gerontology (IOG) at Wayne State University conducts research on the behavioral and social aspects of aging. Located in Detroit, Michigan, the Institute has a strong focus on urban issues, especially disability, mobility and transportation, financial challenges, and disparities in health between ethnic groups. Faculty at the Institute are jointly appointed with a home department in a complementary discipline, such as economics, physical therapy or nursing. The Institute also maintains a Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging laboratory currently profiling brain changes in normal aging through traditional testing and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of participants brain structure and function.Faculty at the Institute collaborate on research with home departments, such as Wayne State University’s Department of Psychology, Department of Economics, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Medical Anthropology Program, Department of Health Care Sciences, and externally with Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development to name a few. Faculty members also mentor pre-doctoral trainees and post-doctoral fellows interested in combining studies of aging with their primary discipline. It is part of a three-building compound that includes the historic Charles L. Freer home, and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Early Childhood Center.

The Charles Lang Freer House is located at 71 East Ferry Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The house was originally built for the industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer, whose gift of the Freer Gallery of Art began the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The structure currently hosts the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute of Child & Family Development of Wayne State University. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1970 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design is a private, historically black college in Detroit, Michigan. It was also the first and only historically black college in Michigan. Founded in 1928 as the Lewis College of Business by Violet T. Lewis, it specialized in business-related topics. The school originally closed in 2015 after losing its accreditation. However, the school became the first HBCU to reopen, rebranding as Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design in 2021 through the efforts of D'Wayne Edwards, founder of the Pensole Footwear Design Academy, with an emphasis on design in addition to business. The school is operating in a partnership with the College for Creative Studies while it works to obtain a new accreditation, campus, and legal & legislative approval to reopen.The school was the founding location of Gamma Phi Delta sorority, Eta Phi Beta sorority, and Tau Gamma Delta sorority.

The Detroit Institute of Musical Arts (DIMA) was a music conservatory in Detroit, Michigan that was actively providing higher education in music from 1914 to 1970.

The Park Shelton is a historic condominium building located at 15 East Kirby Street (on the corner of Kirby and Woodward Avenue) in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. Built in 1926 as The Wardell hotel, the building was therefore listed under this name in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The Lancaster and Waumbek Apartments were small apartment buildings respectively located at 227-29 and 237-39 East Palmer Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The apartments were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. They were demolished in November 2005.

The Col. Frank J. Hecker House is a historic home in Detroit built in 1888 for local businessman and railroad-car manufacturer Colonel Frank J. Hecker. Located at 5510 Woodward Avenue, it was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1958. It is located near to the East Ferry Avenue Historic District and Cultural Center Historic District, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The house has been owned by Wayne State University since September 2014.

Ferry Street is a QLine streetcar station in Detroit, Michigan. The station opened for service on May 12, 2017, and is located in Midtown Detroit. The station services the northern Cultural Center neighborhood as well as Wayne State University.

Wayne State University School of Social Work is a professional school within Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. The school is ranked No. 34 nationally in the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking. Its online social work degree program has been ranked No. 2 nationally by the Social Work Degree Guide, trailing only the Boston University School of Social Work.

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers 658,000 square feet (61,100 m2) with a major renovation and expansion project completed in 2007 that added 58,000 square feet (5,400 m2). The DIA collection is regarded as among the top six museums in the United States with an encyclopedic collection which spans the globe from ancient Egyptian and European works to contemporary art. Its art collection is valued in billions of dollars, up to $8.1 billion USD according to a 2014 appraisal. The DIA campus is located in Detroit's Cultural Center Historic District, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the downtown area, across from the Detroit Public Library near Wayne State University. The museum building is highly regarded by architects. The original building, designed by Paul Philippe Cret, is flanked by north and south wings with the white marble as the main exterior material for the entire structure. The campus is part of the city's Cultural Center Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The museum's first painting was donated in 1883 and its collection consists of over 65,000 works. With about 677,500 visitors annually for 2015, the DIA is among the most visited art museums in the world. The Detroit Institute of Arts hosts major art exhibitions; it contains a 1,150-seat theatre designed by architect C. Howard Crane, a 380-seat hall for recitals and lectures, an art reference library, and a conservation services laboratory.In 2023, readers of USA Today voted the Detroit Institute of Arts the No. 1 art museum in the United States.

The Detroit Festival of the Arts was a three-day arts festival in Detroit, Michigan, held on the second weekend of June. First held in 1986, the Festival featured free musical performances, art showings, activities for children, and local food. It was located in Detroit's cultural center, spanning the Detroit Institute of Arts, the main branch of the Detroit Public Library, and the main Wayne State University campus. A giant sand sculpture had been a fixture of the event since 2004. The theme of the sand sculpture was selected by the sponsors and not by the artists. Official sponsors for the 2007 Festival included DaimlerChrysler, Macy's and the Metro Times. In 2009, the University Cultural Center Association and Wayne State University produced a new event called "Midsummer Nights in Midtown," which took place every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the month of June that year.

The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the city's Cultural Center Historic District in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembly line, toy trains, fur trading from the 18th century, and much more.