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Also known as: The Fillmore Detroit

Historic Photo from NRHP Filing
The Palms Theater Building 2111 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan PHOTOGRAPHER: Glen Calvin Moon DATE: August, 1980 NEGATIVE: Glen Calvin Moon 1452 Randolph St. Detroit, MI. 48226 VIEW: Looking northwest at the corner of Woodward Avenue and West Elizabeth Street at the Palms Theater Building. PHOTO #: 5 of 13
The Palms Building and Theater is architecturally significant as a well-preserved example of a 1920s movie palace. The Palms Building was built in 1925 by the Palms Realty Company as the Francis Palms Building and State Theater. It is a major work of one of the nation's most illustrious theater architects, C. Howard Crane. Crane eventually designed all but three of Detroit's great movie palaces, accumulating a total of more than fifty theaters to his credit in Detroit alone. His office enjoyed a nationwide reputation and executed several hundred theaters throughout the United States prior to 1930. Crane moved to England in the early 1930s, where he continued a successful practice until his death after World War II. With a budget of two million dollars, Crane undertook the design of the Palms Office Building and the State Theater as his most ambitious project up to that time. The florid Renaissance classical style employed in the State Theater later served as a departure for the grandest project of his lifetime, the neighboring Fox Theater constructed in 1928. The 1920s was Detroit's greatest period of growth and prosperity and the elaborate State Theater was the most opulent movie palace built in Detroit up to that time. It was constructed as an investment by the wealthy Palms family who had inherited vast real estate holdings in downtown Detroit from the family patriarch, Francis S. Palms. All of the Palms' family members were great builders and real estate developers. The Palms Building was the family's only venture into theater construction.
The Palms Theater Building is situated at the northern edge of downtown Detroit on Woodward Avenue, one of Detroit's principal thoroughfares. It is two blocks north of Grand Circus Park which became Detroit's theater district in the 1920s with eight theaters in the surrounding area. The Palms Building consists of a twelve-story, 105-foot square, terra-cotta sheathed office tower at the northwest corner of West Elizabeth Street and Woodward Avenue with a brick, six-story, windowless theater auditorium extending to the rear along Elizabeth Street about 160 feet. The exterior elevations of the office tower portion of the structure are elaborately treated in the Beaux Arts Italian Renaissance style except for the ground floor, which was modernized about 1960 with glass and aluminum storefronts and a monolithic masonry and concrete treatment. The interior of the Palms building is divided into two distinct parts; the office building and the florid Renaissance classical style theater. Except for the storefront alterations and the removal of the original marquee and the remodeling of the outer lobby, the building and theater are for the most part unaltered.
C. Howard Crane
NRHP Ref# 82000551 • Data from National Park Service • Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0
The Palms Theater Building 2111 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan PHOTOGRAPHER: Glen Calvin Moon DATE: August, 1980 NEGATIVE: Glen Calvin Moon 1452 Randolph St. Detroit, MI. 48226 VIEW: Looking northwest at the corner of Woodward Avenue and West Elizabeth Street at the Palms Theater Building. PHOTO #: 5 of 13
Public Domain (Michigan filing for National Register of Historic Places)
The Fillmore Detroit is a multi-use entertainment venue operated by Live Nation. Built in 1925, the Fillmore Detroit was known for most of its history as the State Theatre. It is located near the larger Fox Theatre in the Detroit Theatre District along Woodward Avenue across from Comerica Park and Grand Circus Park. 42°20′15″N 83°3′7″W / 42.33750°N 83.05194°W / 42.33750; -83.05194‹ The template Infobox venue is being considered for merging. ›The Fillmore Detroit features a theatre with a Grand Lobby and three levels of seating, as well as the State Bar & Grill which has a separate entrance and is open when the theatre is not hosting events. The Detroit Music Awards are held annually at The Fillmore Detroit in April. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.The site of the Fillmore was previously home to an earlier theatre known as the Central and then, from 1913-1923, as the Grand Circus Theatre. This theatre was demolished to make way for the 1925 construction of what was then called the Francis Palms Building. The building was named for Francis Palms, a First French Empire native who moved to Detroit in 1832 and made his fortune in real estate development. Palms' descendants continued in real estate as the Palms Realty Company, and constructed this building at a time when Detroit's population and the popularity of movies was booming.The theatre was constructed in 1925 as a movie house in the Renaissance Revival style of architecture. C. Howard Crane was the original architect, and the building is still called the Francis Palms Building.The theatre was originally called the State Theatre when it opened in 1925. It was renamed the Palms-State Theatre in 1937 and the Palms Theatre in 1946. In 1982 it was renamed back to the State Theatre. And in 2007 (as a national re-branding) it was renamed, this time the Fillmore Theatre.The building is twelve stories high and covered with terra cotta, with an eight-story auditorium extending to the rear of the building. The office tower has elaborate Beaux-Arts Italian Renaissance decorations on all but the ground floor, which was modernized in about 1960.The Fillmore Detroit is a concert venue for popular music acts as well as hosting many special events. The venue's current seating capacity is 2,900, 2,084 for reserved seating. The mezzanine and balcony levels still contain their original theatre seating.In March 2007, Live Nation announced that the State Theatre would become the Fillmore Detroit as part of a multi-city extension of the Fillmore brand, similar to what has been done previously with the House of Blues franchise. Various changes were implemented to evoke the Fillmore's iconic venue in San Francisco, California. The official inaugural show under the Fillmore Detroit re-branding was Fergie's June 13, 2007, performance.Live Nation has continued the gradual restoration of the Italian Renaissance theatre. The outer lobby and rotunda lobby were restored in the 1990s. The grand foyer columns and auditorium proscenium arch were more recent restorations. Live Nation has restored the barrel vaulted ceiling of the three-story grand foyer, and has plans to work on the upper reaches of the auditorium in increments.In 2015, the fourteenth season of American Idol held semi-finals at The Fillmore Detroit. Pre-recorded episodes were aired on Fox starting on February 25, followed by two live episodes, the series' first broadcast from outside Los Angeles, on March 3 and 4.• The Palms Building houses the Fillmore Detroit theatre• The marquee extends over Woodward Avenue• The Fillmore Detroit was known for most of its history as the State Theatre• Fox Theatre• House Of Blues• Hauser, Michael & Marianne Weldon (2006). Detroit's Downtown Movie Palaces (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-4102-8.• Hill, Eric J. & John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3.• Meyer, Katherine Mattingly and Martin C.P. McElroy with Introduction by W. Hawkins Ferry, Hon A.I.A. (1980). Detroit Architecture A.I.A. Guide Revised Edition. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1651-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)• Sharoff, Robert (2005). American City: Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3270-6.Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fillmore Detroit.• The Fillmore Detroit website• Cinema Treasures website of old movie houses profiles The State Theatre.• Fillmore Detroit Myspace Page• Fillmore Detroit reopens after a summer of restoration — Detroit News, October 5, 2018• Fillmore marquee to be completed this month, December 2018 — Detroit News, December 11, 2018Skyscrapers and complexes • 150 West Jefferson• Ally Detroit Center• Book Tower• Broderick Tower• Buhl Building• Cadillac Place• Cadillac Square Building (demolished)• Cadillac Tower• Chrysler House• David Whitney Building• Detroit Life Building• Executive Plaza Building• Federal Reserve Building• First National Building• Fisher Building• Ford Building• Fort Pontchartrain Hotel• Francis Palms Building• Guardian Building• Hudson's Detroit• Industrial Building• Lafayette Building (demolished)• Michigan Central Station• Millender Center• One Campus Martius• One Griswold Street• One Kennedy Square• One Woodward Avenue• Penobscot Building• Renaissance Center• Riverfront Condominiums Detroit• David Stott Building• Westin Book Cadillac Hotel• Meridian Health Plan Headquarters (proposed)• Detroit Statler Hotel (demolished)• Water Board Building• Wurlitzer Building, a former Wurlitzer office buildingParks • Belle Isle• Campus Martius Park• Water Works Park (closed)Public art • Bagley Memorial Fountain• Scott Fountain• Russell Alger Memorial Fountain• General Alexander Macomb• Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument• The Spirit of Detroit• Stevens T. Mason• General Thaddeus KosciuszkoOther landmarks • Comerica Park• Detroit Athletic Club• Detroit Building• Detroit City Hall (demolished)• Detroit Opera House• Detroit Public Safety Headquarters• Detroit Club (club defunct, but building still exists)• Elwood Bar• Farwell Building• The Fillmore Detroit• Ford Auditorium (demolished)• Ford Field• Fort Shelby Hotel• Fort Street Presbyterian Church• Fox Theatre• Frank Murphy Hall of Justice• Gem Theatre• Griswold Building Senior Apartments• Hollywood Casino• Huntington Place• Joe Louis Arena (demolished)• Kennedy Fountain, a/k/a Kennedy Square (demolished)• MGM Grand Detroit• Park Avenue House• Town Apartments• Veterans' Memorial Building• Wayne County Building• William Livingstone Memorial Light, only marble lighthouse in the United States, located on Belle Isle• Women's City Club• Coleman A. Young Municipal Center• University Club (demolished)• Yondotega ClubDetroit People Mover stations • Broadway• Bricktown• Cadillac Center• Financial District• Fort/Cass• Grand Circus Park• Greektown• Huntington Place• Michigan Avenue• Millender Center• Renaissance Center• Times Square• Water SquareThis list is incomplete. The Michigan State University College of Law was in Downtown Detroit prior to 1997 and was known as the "Detroit College of Law."Low rise under 10 stories selectedParks and gardens • Belle Isle• Cranbrook• Campus Martius• Grand Circus• Metroparks• Matthaei Botanical Gardens• Riverfront parks• Detroit ZooMuseums and libraries • Cranbrook Educational Community• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History• Detroit Historical Museum• Detroit Institute of Arts• Detroit Public Library• Detroit Science Center• Edsel and Eleanor Ford House• Fair Lane• Ford Piquette Avenue Plant• The Henry Ford• Meadowbrook Hall• Pewabic Pottery• Southfield Public Library• University of Michigan Museum of ArtReligious landmarks • Religious landmarksPerformance centers • Theatres and performing arts venuesNeighborhood Historic DistrictsSee also: List of tallest buildings in Detroit
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