Wilson, Judge Robert S., House

Robert S. Wilson came to Ann Arbor from Allegheny County, New York, in 1835. In Michigan he gained a wide reputation as an able attorney who 'knew how to influence a jury.' He served as Judge of Probate in Washtenaw County for a year and was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives. In 1855, Wilson moved to Chicago where he served for many years as a Police Justice. While in Ann Arbor, Wilson commissioned a still unknown builder to erect for him a dignified residence of the temple style. There was a dwelling on the lot now occupied by the Wilson house as early as 1835. Kimball dates the existing house 'after 1836,' while Newcomb says 1843. The present owners say verbal tradition dates the house at 1840. Tax records show there was a brick house on the lot owned by Wilson in 1839: circa 1839 is probably the most accurate date of construction discoverable at this point. Almost no alteration of the house or its interior furnishings has been made since 1893 when the present owners, the Wahr-Sallade family, acquired the house. Original fireplaces in all the main rooms, gas lighting fixtures, and a hearth and Dutch oven in the basement are still intact. Almost every architectural survey ever made which has dealt with Michigan architecture with any seriousness has taken special note of the Wilson house as an outstanding specimen of classical design. Rexford Newcomb wrote: 'The Wilson House, a staunch stuccoed brick temple with a tetrastyle Ionic portico, is one of the finest Greek Revival houses in America. Of perfect proportions, it possesses the chastity and austerity of a Greek original.' Emil Lorch, writing for the Historic American Buildings Survey, called the house, 'one of the most perfect houses of its type.' Herbert Wenzell, also writing for HABS, said: 'This house is the best preserved of this period, in the vicinity.' Wayne Andrews said the Wilson House, 'may be the most splendid Greek Revival house in Ann Arbor.' Newcomb and the present owner of the house both point to the Temple of Nike Apteros at Athens as a possible inspiration for the Wilson house. The present owner, like all the former owners, is disinclined to make any alteration in the house, however slight, which might mar or compromise its historic and architectural significance.

The Wilson House is a two-story Greek Revival building of monumental proportions. The front facade of the house has a tetrastyle Ionic portico, columns with fluted shafts, Attic base, denticular cornices, and a distinguished entrance framed between pilasters. The medium gable roof carries four chimneys, two on each slope. Windows in the entire house have outside blinds. The house is stucco on brick, with a stone foundation, and with wood cornices and columns painted gray. A two-story wing on the rear is evidently of more recent date than the main portion of the house. The rear wing has a side-entrance stair hall, bay windows, and the upper floor is at a slightly lower level than the upper floor of the main section. The main unit is two parlors deep with a side stair. Parlor windows rise from floor level and are framed in slender panelled pilasters. All the major rooms of the house have fireplaces. Mantles in the parlors are of white marble with round-headed openings and iron frames.

The Wilson Theatre, designed by William Kapp, is significant as one of the best examples of early Art Deco architecture in Detroit. All of the theatre's architectural sculpture was designed and executed by Corrado Parducci who, in a working partnership with the firm of Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, left a rich legacy of architectural sculpture in Detroit and throughout the country. His sculpture always comprised an integral part of the design of the building it adorned and never had the 'applied' feeling which led many contemporary critics to scorn architectural ornament. The theatre is also significant for the diverse role it has played in the theatrical history of the City of Detroit. Built as a legitimate theatre, the Wilson attracted the best of touring Broadway productions, in addition to providing a forum for presentations of the Acting Company, the Shaw Festival, and the Young Vic. During the Depression, the theatre only opened sporadically but still provided Detroiters with an opportunity to attend quality theatre productions. The Wilson was renamed Music Hall in 1946 when it became the home of the Detroit Symphony. The Symphony moved on to larger quarters in 1949, and in 1951 Music Hall became the home of Detroit's Cinerama. Music Hall is now the home of the Michigan Opera Theatre, an outgrowth of the Detroit Opera Company. In 1976, Music Hall was the stage chosen for the world premiere of a new American opera, 'Washington Square,' by Thomas Pasatieri. The theatre has also become a center for the performing arts and has served as the stage for many new plays and musicals, among them two top hits by Detroiters, 'What the Wine Sellers Buy,' and 'Selma.' With traditional drama, classical music, Cinerama, dance, jazz, and ethnic productions, the Modernistic-Art Deco Wilson Theatre has provided Detroit with five decades of vital entertainment.

The front (north) elevation has a dark marble base topped by beige travertine to the height of the marquee. Above the marquee are six stone pilasters alternately surmounted by the masks of tragedy and comedy. These pilasters form a fenestration pattern which is composed of paired openings divided by slender engaged columns. The cornice line above the pilasters is covered by a green and tan mosaic. On either side of the pilasters is one bay of face brick which wraps around the corners of the building. The east elevation features travertine with face brick courses, topped by face brick, with some decorative brickwork at the cornice line. The other two facades are common brick. This exterior, a 1928 version of Modernistic, combines features of the Arts and Crafts style with early Art Deco. The interior of the building is done in a Spanish Renaissance motif characteristic of the eclecticism of American architecture during the 1920s and 1930s. The auditorium section is designed so that all sight lines lead directly to the stage. Even though the theatre seats 1800, the pitch of the first and second balconies creates an intimacy missing in most large theatres. The interior contains elaborate applied plaster, stenciling, and molded columns with Greek masks.