Redford Theatre Building

The Redford Theatre is significant as an unusual example of Chinese-Japanese theater design and as a well preserved example of the 'atmospheric' theater genre of the 1920s. The theater is significant as well for its long and continuing role as an entertainment center whose programs currently include organ concerts, vintage silent and sound motion pictures, and vaudeville-type acts. Now a part of Detroit, the Redford Neighborhood, was once a separate town known originally as Sand Hill. Detroit absorbed the small community in the early twentieth century, but Redford continued to have something of a separate identity. The Redford Theatre was built in 1927 near the commercial center of the Redford Neighborhood. The Detroit firm of Verner, Wilhelm and Molby, engineers and architects, with Detroit engineer Ralph F. Shreve as associate, designed the theater. The firm, which consisted of Frank L. Molby, an architect, William F. Verner, an engineer, and Eugene B. Wilhelm, survived only a few years in the 1920s before the partners split up, and the Redford is the only theater of theirs which has thus far been documented. The structure is the only known Michigan example of a theater containing Chinese or Japanese design elements. Built as a combination vaudeville and movie house, the theater was provided with a 'Barton' organ manufactured by the Bartola Musical Company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The theater operated as a movie house until it was closed in 1974. In an effort to preserve both the structure and the Barton organ in the auditorium, the Motor City Theatre Organ Society (MCTOS) leased the theater from 1974 until 1977 when its members voted to purchase the building. Since that time MCTOS has restored much of the theater's outstanding oriental interior design and its Barton theater organ. Through its current sponsorship of organ concerts, motion pictures and theatrical events at the Redford Theatre, MCTOS has added to the building's significance as an important and viable cultural resource.

The Redford Theatre, built in 1927 in the 'Old Redford Neighborhood' is located about ten miles northwest of downtown Detroit. It is a red brick structure with a symmetrical, two-story front containing the entrances to the theater and flanking storefronts. The exterior contains a composite of stylistic elements while the interior contains Chinese and Japanese design elements. The theater's front facade faces west toward Lahser Street. A recessed area at the center of the west facade houses five sets of aluminum doors which open into the theater lobby. A ticket booth projects from the center of the recessed area. The walls at the entrance are now faced with aggregate panels colored brown and white. A yellow and red enameled metal marquee spans the west facade above the entrance. The second story of the west facade's central portion houses four windows, two of which are obscured by the marquee. The windows are of the double-hung type with decorative surrounds consisting of twisted columns with corinthian capitals, limestone, round-arch heads, and a tympanum containing swags and comedy-tragedy masks executed in relief. The central portion has a low gable and its cornice is embellished with a brick corbel table. In each side of the central entrance portion of the west facade are two storefronts in the first story and a band of six eight-over-eight windows under a tiled and bracket-supported pent roof in the second story. A limestone sill course spans the second story. The storefronts have large glazed surfaces and marble window aprons. The doors on the west facade's center lead to the theater's outer lobby. The outer lobby has been remodeled, and all wall, floor and ceiling material is modern. Six pairs of double doors lead from the outer to the inner lobby. The inner lobby houses a concession stand, two staircases leading to the mezzanine, and doorways to the auditorium. The lobby ceiling is vaulted and has a smooth, plaster surface and painted ceiling medallions. The wall surfaces are of smooth plaster. The breastwork of the mezzanine balcony as well as moldings and pier capitals in the inner lobby are decorated with painted, polychrome oriental motifs. Two electric chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The floor is covered with carpeting. The Chinese/Japanese-style auditorium has a full stage, orchestra pit and balcony. The proscenium and flanking organ chambers have red tile pagoda roofs. The auditorium's smooth, slightly arched, plaster ceiling is painted to resemble a blue sky with clouds and a lighting system consisting of small light bulbs set in the ceiling create the impression of twinkling stars. Painted tree tops and mountain landscapes are visible above the organ chambers. Exit doors in the balcony have torri surrounds. The plaster walls of the organ chambers are painted to resemble grey, regular-coursed stonework. Other walls in the auditorium are also of grey-painted plaster. The floors are of concrete, painted grey. The full stage at the auditorium's east end has a hardwood floor and footlights. The original light console and weighted fly systems remain. On the south end of the stage housing are four stories of dressing and property rooms. An important feature of the theater's interior is the fully operable, three-manual Barton organ. The console, set on a four-post lift in the orchestra pit, is decorated with gold and black-painted Chinese motifs. The organ is maintained and used on a regular basis by the Motor City Theatre Organ Society. Alterations to the theater's exterior include the resurfacing of the walls about the entrance, replacement of the original marquee, and the modernization of the southernmost storefront. Important interior changes occurred during World War II when, due to the anti-Japanese sentiment, some of the oriental motifs were covered with drapery and plaster. More recently, the outer lobby was remodeled. Much of the original appearance of the inner lobby and the auditorium has been restored since 1974.