The Fisher Building is a landmark office tower located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, and is designed in an Art Deco style, faced with limestone, granite, and several types of marble. The Fisher family financed the building with proceeds from the sale of Fisher Body to General Motors. It was designed to house office and retail space.

The Fisher brothers located the building across from the General Motors Building (Cadillac Place), as General Motors had recently purchased the Fisher Body Company. The two massive buildings spurred the development of a New Center for the city, a business district north of its downtown area.

The building's hipped roof was originally covered with gold leaf tiles, but during World War II these tiles were covered in asphalt because it was feared that the reflective surface would attract enemy bombers.

In 2001, FK Acquisition LLC, a real estate firm based in Southfield, purchased the two buildings from TrizecHahn Corporation for $31 million. FK Acquisition LLC lost the buildings to its lender in 2015.

In 2002, Detroit Public Schools (DPS) paid the owner of the Fisher Building $24.1 million to purchase five floors to house administrative offices, citing the high cost of renovations needed at the Maccabees Building, the previous headquarters, to comply with building and safety codes.

In July 2015, Southfield-based developer Redico LLC, in partnership with HFZ Capital Group of New York City and Peter Cummings of The Platform, a Detroit-based development company, taking advantage of the general decline in Detroit real estate values, purchased the Fisher Building and adjacent Albert Kahn Building, plus 2,000 parking spaces in two parking structures and three surface lots in New Center for only $12.2 million at auction. Redico said the partnership plans to transform the two buildings, which are connected by an underground pedestrian concourse, into what it called a "true urban" mixed-use development, with a mix of office, retail, residential and entertainment uses. The multi-year project has a potential cost of $70 million to $80 million in addition to the purchase price. The Redico interest was purchased by Cummings and his partner in The Platform, Dietrich Knoer, in 2016.

In 2023, Michigan State University acquired 79% of the owner of the Fisher Building, which means MSU owns it.

Architecture

The Fisher Building rises 30 stories with a roof height of , a top floor height of , and the spire reaching . The building has 21 elevators. Albert Kahn and Associates designed the building with Joseph Nathaniel French serving as chief architect. French took inspiration from Eliel Saarinen's Tribune Tower design of 1922, seen in the emphasis on verticality and the stepped-back upper stories. The building is unlike any other Albert Kahn production. It has been called "Detroit's largest art object".

In 1929, the Architectural League of New York honored the Fisher Building with a silver medal in architecture. The opulent three-story barrel vaulted lobby is constructed with forty different kinds of marble, decorated by Hungarian artist Géza Maróti, and is highly regarded by architects. The sculpture on the exterior of the building was supplied by several sculptors including Maróti, Corrado Parducci, Anthony De Lorenzo and Ulysses Ricci.

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File:Fisherb1.jpg|Looking east

File:Fisherb16.jpg|Arcade ceiling

File:Fisher Building Lobby (4634810509).jpg|Arcade and theatre entrance

File:New Center Park (4669324582).jpg|View from the south

File:GrandBoulevardNewCenterDetroit.jpg|Looking west

File:Fisher Building Detroit crop.jpg|

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Radio

Designs called for two flagpoles atop the gilt roof. While they were installed, they were essentially unusable as a radio antenna was installed when one of the building's oldest tenants, radio station WJR, leased space in December 1928. On-air hosts often mention that broadcasts originate "from the golden tower of the Fisher Building." This was a requirement of the station's original lease in exchange for a nominal rent. Two other radio stations, WDVD-FM (the former WJR-FM) and WUFL, also have broadcast studios in the building.

In 1970, building employees discovered a storage room sealed with tape. None of the staff knew what the room contained or why it was sealed. When they located the key, they found the flags of 75 nations that apparently were created in 1928 and intended to be flown for foreign visitors. After the Depression, the theatre operated primarily as a movie house until 1961. Originally containing 3,500 seats, the interior was renovated into a 2,089-seat playhouse that allowed for more spacious seating and lobbies for patrons at a cost of $3.5 million. The decor was changed to a simple mid-century design.

The Nederlander Organization opened the "new" Fisher Theatre on October 2, 1961 and operated it until April 2021 when it sold the venue to the Ambassador Theatre Group. It primarily features traveling productions of Broadway shows and has hosted numerous out-of-town tryouts.

Pre-Broadway Engagements at the Fisher:

  • 1961: The Gay Life
  • 1962: No Strings, Bravo Giovanni, Oliver!
  • 1963: Sophie, Here's Love, Jennie, Hello, Dolly!
  • 1964: Foxy, Fiddler on the Roof, Golden Boy, I Had a Ball
  • 1965: Pleasures and Palaces, Pickwick, Skyscraper, Sweet Charity
  • 1966: Pousse-Café, Walking Happy
  • 1967: Illya Darling, Henry, Sweet Henry
  • 1968: George M!, I'm Solomon, Lovers and Other Strangers, Maggie Flynn
  • 1969: La Strada
  • 1970: Applause, The Rothschilds, Not Now, Darling
  • 1972: Tricks
  • 1973: Seesaw, Lorelei, Turtlenecks, Gigi
  • 1974: Good News, London Assurance, The Wiz
  • 1979: Sugar Babies, Oklahoma!
  • 1982: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
  • 1986: Into the Light
  • 1996: Big

Art

Befitting the Fisher Building's history in association with art, three nationally recognized fine-art galleries have occupied space in the structure including the Gertrude Kasle Gallery and London Fine Arts Group.

  • Gertrude Kasle Gallery: Located in Suite 310 of the Fisher Building from 1965 to 1976 was a nationally recognized fine-art gallery hosting exhibits for some of the most highly respected artists of the second half of the 20th century including Willem de Kooning, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Goodnough, Adolph Gottlieb, Phillip Guston, Grace Hartigan, Ian Hornak, Ray Johnson, Robert Motherwell, Lowell Nesbitt, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and Jack Tworkov.
  • London Fine Arts Group: Located in a large portion of the third floor of the Fisher Building during the 1970s and 1980s, London Fine Arts Group acted as a publishing company assisting in producing limited edition art works for many internationally recognized artists including Yaacov Agam, Karel Appel, Arman, Romare Bearden, Gene Davis, Don Eddy, Alberto Giacometti, Ian Hornak, Lester Johnson, Alex Katz, Richard Lindner, Roberto Matta, Lowell Nesbitt, Robert Rauschenberg, Harry Bertoia, Donald Sultan, Victor Vasarely and Larry Zox.

See also

  • Cadillac Place
  • Guardian Building
  • Albert Kahn Building
  • Pewabic Pottery
  • List of tallest buildings in Detroit
  • List of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Downtown and Midtown Detroit

References

; Notes

; Bibliography

  • Fisher Building website
  • Metro Times review of American City: Detroit Architecture
  • Boxoffice Magazine 1962 story on Fisher Theatre remodel
  • Motion Picture News 1929 Fisher Theatre pictorial