The Majestic Theatre | |
Michigan | |
Location | 4120-4140 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Michigan |
---|---|
Nearest city | Woodward Avenue |
Coordinates | 42°21′5″N83°3′37″W / 42.35139°N 83.06028°W |
Built | 1915 |
Architect | C. Howard Crane; Bennett & Straight |
Architectural style | Art Deco |
Restored |
|
Restored by | Majestic Theatre Center |
Visitation | 1100 (2019–2021) |
Part of | Majestic Theatre Center (Majestic Theatres) |
NRHP reference No. | 08000577 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 02, 2008 |
Boundary increase | $1,000,000 (renovations) |
The Majestic Theatre is a theatre located at 4126-4140 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Today, the theatre is mainly a music venue. It hosts a variety of musical concerts in three separate areas of the building: The Majestic, The Majestic Cafe, and The Magic Stick.
The Majestic Theatre, designed by C. Howard Crane, opened on April 1, 1915. [2] The theatre originally seated 1,651 [2] people (at the time the largest theatre in the world built for the purpose of showing movies [3] ), and the facade was designed in an arcaded Italian style. [2] In 1934, the front 35 feet (11 m) of the theatre were removed when Woodward Avenue was widened to its present size. The entire facade was redesigned into its current striking Art Deco motif by the firm of Bennett & Straight. The theater now boasts the largest enameled metal panel Art Deco facade in the Detroit metropolitan region. [2]
The theatre eventually closed, and the building was used as a church for a time, and later as a photographic studio. [3] It lay vacant for ten years. The present owner purchased the building in 1984. [3]
There is a myth that legendary magician Harry Houdini gave his last performance on stage here, on Halloween night 1926. In fact, Houdini last performed at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit and died a few days later of peritonitis at Detroit's Grace Hospital on October 31, 1926.
The Majestic Theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. [1] [4] In 2018 the venue's owners announced a renovation plan and pledged to put $1,000,000 into the building. On October 25, 2019, The Majestic Theatre unveiled its new marquee facing Woodward Avenue. [5]
The Majestic Theatre operates as part of the Majestic Theatre Center, which includes the attached Garden Bowl bowling alley, The Majestic Cafe, The Magic Stick, and Sgt. Pepperoni's. [6]
On September 25, 2024, Juggalo Championship Wrestling announced their Devil's Night pay-per-view wrestling show would be held at the venue on October 30th. [7]
The 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.
1001 Woodward is a 25-floor office building in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It replaced the Majestic Building, a 14-story high rise on the same site. The building is located just south of the neighboring David Stott Building, at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue overlooking Campus Martius Park. Constructed from 1963 to 1965, the building is designed in the International Style. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
The Albert, formerly the Griswold Building, is a former office building named after architect Albert Kahn, located at 1214 Griswold Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and is part of the Capitol Park Historic District. In 2014, it was renovated into apartments.
John Adolph Emil Eberson was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, earning the nickname "Opera House John". His most notable surviving theatres in the United States include the Tampa Theatre (1926), Palace Theatre Marion (1928), Palace Theatre Louisville (1928), Majestic Theatre (1929), Akron Civic Theatre (1929), the Paramount Theatre (1929), the State Theater 1927, and the Lewis J. Warner Memorial Theater (1932) at Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts. Remaining international examples in the atmospheric style include both the Capitol Theatre (1928) and State Theatre (1929) in Sydney, Australia, The Forum and Le Grand Rex.
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The Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings, also known as the Monroe Block, is a historic district located along a block-and-a-half stretch at 16-118 Monroe Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, just off Woodward Avenue at the northern end of Campus Martius. The district was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The thirteen original buildings were built between 1852 and 1911 and ranged from two to five stories in height. The National Theatre, built in 1911, was the oldest surviving theatre in Detroit, a part of the city's original theatre district of the late 19th century, and the sole surviving structure from the original Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings historic period.
The Garden Bowl is a 16-lane Brunswick bowling alley located at 4104–4120 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It is the oldest continuously operating bowling alley in the country. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The Players is a clubhouse and theatre located at 3321 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1985 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The Vanity Ballroom Building is a public building located at 1024 Newport Street in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Although the building is recorded as the last intact ballroom of the multiple Detroit dance halls that hosted big bands in the 1930s–50s, such claims ignore the abandoned yet still standing Grande Ballroom on Grand River Avenue.
The Midtown Woodward Historic District is a historic district located along Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Structures in the district are located between 2951 and 3424 Woodward Avenue, and include structures on the corner of Charlotte Street and Peterboro Street. The district was admitted to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The performing arts in Detroit include orchestra, live music, and theater, with more than a dozen performing arts venues. The stages and old time film palaces are generally located along Woodward Avenue, the city's central thoroughfare, in the Downtown, Midtown, and New Center areas. Some additional venues are located in neighborhood areas of the city. Many of the city's significant historic theaters have been revitalized.
The F. M. Kirby Center is a historic Art Deco-Moderne style movie theater located at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
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The New Center Commercial Historic District is a commercial historic district located on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore Street and Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
The Bolduc Block, also known as the Majestic Theater, is a historic commercial and theatrical building at 36 Main Street in Conway, New Hampshire. Built in 1923, it was the community's first theater. It is also a good local example of Art Deco architecture, a style uncommon in northern New Hampshire, fire damage to its interior. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in 2015. It is presently owned by the Mountain Top Music Center.
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