Fox Theatre is a performing arts center located at 2211 Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, near the Grand Circus Park Historic District. Opened in 1928 as a flagship movie palace in the Fox Theatres chain, it was at over 5,000 seats the largest theater in the city. Designed by theater architect C. Howard Crane, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 for its architecture. The area surrounding the Fox is nicknamed Foxtown. The city's major performance centers and theatres emanate from the Fox Theatre and Grand Circus Park Historic District and continue along Woodward Avenue toward the Fisher Theatre in the city's New Center. The adjacent office building houses the headquarters of Olympia Entertainment and Little Caesars.

History

The Detroit Fox is one of five spectacular Fox Theatres built in the late 1920s by film pioneer William Fox. The others were the Fox Theatres in Brooklyn, Atlanta, St. Louis, and San Francisco. Architect C. Howard Crane designed the Fox with an "exotic" interior appropriating Burmese, Chinese, Indian and Persian motifs. There are three levels of seating, the Main Floor above the orchestra pit, the Mezzanine, and the Gallery (balcony).

The exterior of the attached 10-story office building features a façade with Asian motifs which, when illuminated at night, can be seen for several blocks. The Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri is (on the interior) its near architectural twin with about 500 fewer seats. The 10-story Detroit Fox Theatre building also contains the headquarters of Olympia Entertainment, while the St. Louis Fox is a stand-alone theatre. The architectural plaster molds of the Detroit Fox (1928) were re-used on the St. Louis Fox (1929).

The Fox opened in 1928 and remained Detroit's premier movie destination for decades. Unlike many neighboring theatres, it operated continually until it was closed in the early 1980s for restoration. By the 1960s, the venue was showing its age and maintenance of many key areas was deferred. By the 1970s mezzanine and balcony seating areas were closed to the public.

In 1984 Chuck Forbes, owner of the State and Gem theaters, proposed a renovation project. These plans were never fully realized, but in 1988 the theater was acquired by new owners, Mike and Marian Ilitch, who fully restored the Fox at a cost of $12 million. During the 1960s, the theater hosted performances by many Motown recording artists, but by the 1970s the theater was showing its age. Unlike other downtown Detroit theaters in the 1970s, such as the Michigan and United Artists, the Fox was able to remain open by programming Blaxploitation and martial arts films.

Architecture

upright|thumb|Night view with the 2015 LED marquee

The Fox Office Building, which forms the Woodward façade of the theatre, is 10 stories in height. The front and sides of the office tower are faced with a cream-colored terracotta. There are decorative lintels above the windows on the second and tenth floor. The building wraps around the theatre lobby creating a u-shaped floor plan. The auditorium and rear of the office tower are faced with brick.

The current marquee was installed during the 1987 restoration but is based on the original which itself was replaced in the 1950s. It was updated with a new supporting structure, digital video screens and LEDs in 2015.

The original configuration of the street and second floors contained 20 retail spaces on each level. Spaces featured large display windows looking into the corridors and ground floor spaces also had access directly from the street.

Office space occupied the third through tenth floor and featured marble floors and wainscoting in the corridors. Office doors featured full-length glass with glass transoms above to allow light and ventilation into the corridors. Many of these features remained when the 1987 restoration began with the exception of the seventh floor which was altered in the 1970s to accommodate a Social Security Administration office.

See also

  • The Fillmore Detroit
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Downtown and Midtown Detroit

References

Further reading

  • Official Site
  • Fox Theater Building, National Historic Landmarks in Michigan, State of Michigan website
  • History and photos of Elvis Presley at the Fox at Scotty Moore website.
  • Fox Theatre Detroit Seating Chart