Motown Museum – Detroit, Michigan - Atlas Obscura
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Motown Museum

Detroit, Michigan

Berry Gordy Jr.'s old home was the original headquarters of Motown Record Corporation. 

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Michelle Gerard (Atlas Obscura )
Michelle Gerard (Atlas Obscura )
Michelle Gerard (Atlas Obscura )
Michelle Gerard (Atlas Obscura )
Michelle Gerard (Atlas Obscura )
Michelle Gerard (Atlas Obscura )
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Every year, the Motown Museum attracts thousands of visitors from around the world to see the place where the genre was born. 

Located in a quaint blue and white house in Detroit, the Motown Museum is the former home of Motown Records label founder Berry Gordy Jr. Gordy and his family lived in the two-resident flat, which also housed a recording studio and office. From 1959 until 1985, it was the headquarters of the label.

After Gordy moved to California in the 1980s, his sister Esther Gordy Edwards converted the space into a museum but left it largely untouched, save for some restoration work. The space that visitors tour today (aside from the exhibits featuring artwork, costumes, photographs, and other historic memorabilia) largely resembles the place as it was during Motown’s heyday. 

Guests to the museum can visit the storied Studio A, where the Jackson Five, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and many others recorded unforgettable hits that remain popular today. 

Know Before You Go

Photos are permitted but audio and video recording is prohibited. There is parking available on the street.

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