The Music Hall Center for Performing Arts is a 1,731-seat theatre located in the city's theatre district at 350 Madison Street in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It was built in 1928 as the Wilson Theatre, designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976, and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1977.

History

John Francis Dodge John Francis Dodge (October 25, 1864 – January 14, 1920) was an American automobile manufacturing pioneer and co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company. Biography Dodge was born in Niles, Michigan, where his father ran a foundry and machine s ...

and his brother

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

were original investors in

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

who sold their interest to

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...

and established their own company, the

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

Motor Company, in 1914. Both brothers died in 1920, leaving their respective widows very wealthy women.

Matilda Dodge Wilson Matilda Dodge Wilson (née Rausch; October 19, 1883 – September 19, 1967), was born Matilda Rausch in Walkerton, Ontario, Canada. Ranked as one of the wealthiest women in the world, Dodge-Wilson was the widow of John Francis Dodge, who co-foun ...

, John's widow, married in 1925 to Alfred Wilson, was interested in stage productions and decided to use part of her fortune to build a venue in Detroit to serve as home to a repertory troupe, and to host touring

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

performers. She hired the prominent Detroit architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls who assigned

William Kapp William Edward Kapp (August 20, 1891 in Toledo – 1969) was an American architect. He earned his architectural degree at the University of Pennsylvania. For the majority of his career, he worked for the firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. Projects ...

to design the building and spent $1.5 million on the construction. At the time of its opening in 1928, the building was dubbed the Wilson Theatre.

Building

Kapp designed the six-story Wilson Theater in an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style. The Madison Street facade is decorated with orange and tan brick with Pewabic tile and stone accents. The upper facade is divided into seven bays by stone-covered piers which are capped with terra cotta theatrical masks. In each of the five central bays are two windows separated by a narrower pier. The end bays have only one window. The parapet boasts coral and green Pewabic tile in a

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

pattern and the facade at street level has been covered with travertine with green marble at the base. The original interior was designed in a Spanish Renaissance style and seated 1,800. The lower level lounge featured a built-in bar among its amenities.

Later history

During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the cash-strapped

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music d ...

was unable to maintain its own building, Orchestra Hall, and played in a number of other locations in the city. In 1946, the orchestra moved into Wilson Theatre, renaming it Detroit Music Hall. The symphony left for the newly constructed

Ford Auditorium Ford Auditorium was a 2,920-seat auditorium in Detroit, Michigan built in 1955 and opened in 1956. Located on the Detroit riverfront, it served as a home to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) for more than 33 years and was an integral part of th ...

in 1956, and the building was used for other purposes, especially a movie theater showing

Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...

films. In 1971, Music Hall became home of the fledgling

Michigan Opera Theatre Detroit Opera is the principal opera company in Michigan, USA. The company is based in Detroit, where it performs in the Detroit Opera House. Prior to February 28, 2022, the company was named the Michigan Opera Theatre. Each year it presents an ope ...

. The opera company staged most of its productions here through the 1984 season. Restoration efforts began in 1973 and continued for several years. In 1974, the venue was renamed the Music Hall Center for Performing Arts. It is currently the only venue in Detroit built expressly to present live performances. The theater was added to the Michigan Register of Historic Places in 1976 and National Register of Historic Places in 1977. A State of Michigan historical marker was placed at the entrance in 1978.

References

External links

Music Hall website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1928 Theatres in Detroit Performing arts centers in Michigan Concert halls in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Event venues established in 1928 National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan