Michigan Theatre is widely known for its haunting mutilation. From elegant
auditorium to decrepit parking garage, this historic landmark went through its share
of transformations. From the beginning, the site of the future theatre had automotive
history attached to it. In a brick shed on this same land in 1886, Henry Ford completed
his first experimental automobile, known as the “Quadricycle.”
The 4000-seat concert hall/movie theatre and the ten-story office building that
contained it opened in 1926. Ushers trained at West Pointe guided patrons up
marble stairs, past European antiques and ornate plasterwork. The theatre had
its own orchestra and a huge Wurlitzer organ. Many of the famous big bands of the
era played there.
By the 1960s, the theatre was experiencing the decline that was affecting the rest
of the downtown. For a time the theatre showed Red Wings hockey games on
closed-circuit television. Then it was a dinner theatre. In the 1970s, now known as
the Michigan Palace, rock bands such as Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult and David Bowie
performed there. The interior of the space suffered greatly. Finally in 1977, exceeding
to the office tenants demands for more parking space, the theatre was gutted and
turned into a parking garage.
