2023 Preservation Detroit Tour Season

Preservation Detroit is gearing up for the 2023 Tour Season!

Our 2023 Tour Program Launch and Volunteer Sign-up is being held on Saturday, April 1 [no fooling!], 10am-12noon.

When: Saturday, April 1, 2023; 10:00 am to Noon
Where: MSU Detroit Center, 3408 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201, located 2 blocks south of Mack on the east side of Woodward at Erskine
Parking: Free parking at the SoMA parking garage at 81 Erskine for the meeting

Questions?: If you have more questions or would like to volunteer but can't attend the meeting, please email samantha@preservationdetroit.org

For more info and to register for our free event:
https://preservationdetroit.org/2023...unteer-sign-up

Announcements about our 2023 tour offerings are coming. As details are made available, I'll post them.

This years Preservation Detroit's annual Downtown Historic Theatre Tour [not held since 2019 due to Covid] will be on an unusual date. Instead of being held on an August Saturday, this years annual tour will be held on Friday July 7, because for the first time most of the theatres will be very busy on Saturday's in August.

The tour will be shorter than the usual 4 1/2 hour tours, and will not include lunch at the Detroit Opera House. Stay tuned for specific details.

Also, this will be the first tour since the 2018 restoration of the Fillmore [State] Theatre auditorium. In years past, all of the inner and outer lobby spaces at the Fillmore had been restored, but never the auditorium [except for the procenium arch]. The Fillmore auditorium now sparkles in shades of gold with glistening marble...

Join us at this Saturday's 2023 Tour Season Kickoff and Volunteer Sign-Up meeting!! See details above!!

Tickets for Preservation Detroit's 2023 Saturday morning tours are now on sale.

Opening day is Saturday, May 6. Tours run on Saturday mornings through the end of September.

Downtown * Eastern Market * Cultural Center * Midtown
plus two 5th Saturday tours: Historic Ferry Street on July 29 and Public Art in the Cultural Center on Sept 30.

For more information and to order tickets, follow the link on the PD homepage: https://preservationdetroit.org/pres...-walking-tours

Please share this link and help us get the word out!!

Coming soon...tickets for the 2023 Theatre Tour on Friday, July 7 and our new Downtown Church Tour on Friday, June 9 as well as our 2023 Weekday Tours on select dates in June, July and August.

*New for 2023!*
Historic City of Churches Tour – Greektown | Friday, June 9, 2023
Detroit has long been a city of churches, at one time claiming more churches per square mile than any other city in the country. Join us for this one-time walking tour of four of Detroit’s most famous and beautiful churches as we tour the inside of these historic sites around Greektown. This 3-hour tour is on Friday, June 9th, running at 9:00 AM and 9:30 AM.


The Detroit Movie Palaces Theatre Tour will return this year! | Friday, July 7th, 2023
Our popular Theater Tour is back this year! Detroit’s entertainment district houses many architecturally stunning historic theaters and we will have this rare opportunity to tour them inside and out. Please join us on Friday, July 7 for a 3-hour walking tour of these famous reminders of Detroit’s glorious past. Timeslots for the tour will run at 9:00 AM, 9:30 AM, and 10:00 AM.

Member-only ticket sales through May 15; open to the public May 16.
https://preservationdetroit.org/cemetery-theatre-tours

Public sales for the Churches Tour and the Theatre Tour began this morning. Tickets are moving fast! So don't delay in buying your tickets.

As of today, there are only a handful of tickets left for the July 9 Theatre Tour.

The Downtown Churches tour on June 7 still has tickets for all 3 tour times, but we expect to sell out.

Tickets for Preservation Detroit 2023 Summer Weekday Tours are now on sale!

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/2023-p...-tours-2246539

Our Theatre Tours are nearly sold out! The first three timeslots sold out; a 4th timeslot at 10:30am has been added. Only a few tickets remain!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this will be the first time that we will be showing the gloriously restored Fillmore/State Theatre!!

The late great Chuck Forbes had restored the Outer Lobby, Rotunda Lobby, and Grand Foyer to their original appearance, but the 7 story auditorium was still in its' paint flaking and nicotine stained look of many decades. In 2018 Live Nations [who have a long term lease on the theatre] shut the theatre down and restored the auditorium to it's golden hued Italian Renaissance splendor. The theatre was unavailable for the 2019 tour, and the 2020, 2021, and 2022 there were no theatre tours due to Covid and its' aftermath.

So now for the first time we are showing the State, Loew's State, Palm's State, Palm's, Club X, Clubland and now Fillmore Theatre back in its' gilded glory!! :o

I'll be onsite guide, along with my long time fellow guide Lisa.

Speaking of historical preservation,4 of Detroits largest historical residential properties went up for sale at the same time and they are all different owners.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gistok

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this will be the first time that we will be showing the gloriously restored Fillmore/State Theatre!!

The late great Chuck Forbes had restored the Outer Lobby, Rotunda Lobby, and Grand Foyer to their original appearance, but the 7 story auditorium was still in its' paint flaking and nicotine stained look of many decades. In 2018 Live Nations [who have a long term lease on the theatre] shut the theatre down and restored the auditorium to it's golden hued Italian Renaissance splendor. The theatre was unavailable for the 2019 tour, and the 2020, 2021, and 2022 there were no theatre tours due to Covid and its' aftermath.

So now for the first time we are showing the State, Loew's State, Palm's State, Palm's, Club X, Clubland and now Fillmore Theatre back in its' gilded glory!! :o

I'll be onsite guide, along with my long time fellow guide Lisa.

---

Superb!

I never tire of examining buildings that used a classical lexicon of detailing.
I appreciate good modernist architecture when I see it, but I get a better kick out of older, more fanciful stuff. Fancy as in dreamlike and wondrous.

A 4th timeslot at 10:30 has been added to the Theatre Tour. And it's almost sold out! Get your tickets now!!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/preserv...s-617902792887
Under When and Where, click on Other options to change the time to 10:30.

Kathleen... since this years tours are going to be [for the first time] during a weekday workday on a Friday, do you know if house organist Dave Calendine will be playing the mighty Wurlitzer 4/36 organ [one of only 5 built] at the Fox for the attendees?

About 10 years ago I gave a downtown tour to a bus full of German's where a tour of the Fox, along with Dave playing the Wurlitzer was the highlight of their entire Detroit tour. I had asked Dave weeks in advance if he could play "Widor's Toccata"... arguably the best way to blow the cobwebs out of the mighty Wurlitzer... :o

Here is a 14 year old version of Dave Calendine playing Widor's Toccata from the slave console up in the balcony... it just blew away all the German visitors! 1st 2 minutes of this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0rrR1n9l9I

Gistok: I am not involved with the Theatre Tour at all. Check with Ken for details on what's happening at the Fox Theatre for our tour guests.

Theatre Tour update: This tour will sell out! Only a handful of tickets left for the 9:30am and 10:30am tours.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/preserv...s-617901779857

Weekday Tours are underway!
6/20 Tues 10am Downtown
6/22 Thurs 10am Cultural Center
6/28 Wed 10am Downtown
7/12 Yamasaki in the Cultural Center
7/13 Thurs 5:30 Downtown
7/20 Thurs 1:30 Midtown
7/26 Wed 10am Downtown
8/4 Fri 10am Cultural Center
8/9 Wed 10am Downtown
8/10 Thurs 10am Yamasaki in the Cultural Center
8/14 Mon 5:30 Downtown
8/17 Thurs 10am Downtown
8/22 Tues 5:30 Midtown
8/20 Wed 1:30 Historic Ferry Street
https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/2023-preservation-detroit-weekday-tours-2246539

Hope to see you on a tour this summer! Don't forget to say Hi!!

Thanks to any DYes folks who bought Theatre Tour tickets. We are sold out!

Check out our Saturday tours and our Weekday tours!

The Theatre Tours went great... we had a nice sunny low humidity mid 70s day. The Fillmore restoration looks beautiful!

Our LiveNations Fillmore representative gave us some interesting news about the Fillmore. One is that LiveNations is considering changing the name of the venue back to the State Theatre. It seems that nationwide, some of the Fillmore Theatres have decided to go back to their original [or just earlier] name. This discussion is still early, so we won't know anything for a while.

Also while renovating the Fillmore Auditorium, the crew came upon a wall that had a plywood covering, and when they opened it up, there they found the State Theatre's original 'slave console'. They left it there, and resealed it for future theatre archeologists. For anyone wondering what a 'slave console' is... it is the spare organ console up in the balcony. Many theatres that contained a stage console, had a spare console up in the side of the balcony, which was used when the stage console had to be kept out of sight for the stage production. Post #15 above shows a link to the Fox's slave console playing the mighty 4/36 Wurlitzer, instead of the main console on stage.

Another interesting Fillmore item we found out about was that the terraced seating and dancefloor on the main floor [orchestra level] can one day be removed [should that need ever arise], and the original sloped level to the main floor is still underneath the wooden terrace frame above it. Also the original seat bolts to the floor were retained, and the original 1500 main floor seats are in offsite storage, and can one day be returned to the theatre, of course requiring new seat fabrics.

Another change to the Fillmore was the addition of beautiful chandeliers to the outer lobby, and a much larger chandelier in the rotunda lobby. Makes the lobby spaces very elegant. :)

Don't let the summer end without taking a Preservation Detroit walking tour! Tours run through September 30.
https://preservationdetroit.org/pres...-walking-tours

Watch for announcement of our October Cemetery Tours in a few weeks.

Great and very interesting report. Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gistok

The Theatre Tours went great... we had a nice sunny low humidity mid 70s day. The Fillmore restoration looks beautiful!

Our LiveNations Fillmore representative gave us some interesting news about the Fillmore. One is that LiveNations is considering changing the name of the venue back to the State Theatre. It seems that nationwide, some of the Fillmore Theatres have decided to go back to their original [or just earlier] name. This discussion is still early, so we won't know anything for a while.

Also while renovating the Fillmore Auditorium, the crew came upon a wall that had a plywood covering, and when they opened it up, there they found the State Theatre's original 'slave console'. They left it there, and resealed it for future theatre archeologists. For anyone wondering what a 'slave console' is... it is the spare organ console up in the balcony. Many theatres that contained a stage console, had a spare console up in the side of the balcony, which was used when the stage console had to be kept out of sight for the stage production. Post #15 above shows a link to the Fox's slave console playing the mighty 4/36 Wurlitzer, instead of the main console on stage.

Another interesting Fillmore item we found out about was that the terraced seating and dancefloor on the main floor [orchestra level] can one day be removed [should that need ever arise], and the original sloped level to the main floor is still underneath the wooden terrace frame above it. Also the original seat bolts to the floor were retained, and the original 1500 main floor seats are in offsite storage, and can one day be returned to the theatre, of course requiring new seat fabrics.

Another change to the Fillmore was the addition of beautiful chandeliers to the outer lobby, and a much larger chandelier in the rotunda lobby. Makes the lobby spaces very elegant. :)

---

Tickets for Preservation Detroit's October Cemetery Tours are on sale!
And they are going fast!!

Here is the lineup:
Saturday, October 7, 1:30pm - Mount Elliott Cemetery
Sunday, October 8, 1:30pm - Elmwood Cemetery
Saturday, October 14, 1:30pm - Woodlawn Cemetery sold out
Saturday, October 21, 1:30pm - Mount Elliott Cemetery
Saturday, October 21, 2pm - Mount Olivet Cemetery
Saturday, October 28, 1:30pm - Woodlawn Cemetery

To purchase tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/2023-p...-tours-2583399

Our summer tour season is winding down!

Only 3 Saturdays left to enjoy a walking tour!

Saturday, Sept 16: Downtown, Midtown
Saturday, Sept 23: Downtown, Eastern Market
Saturday, Sept 30: Downtown, Eastern Market, Public Art in the Cultural Center

All tours depart at 10am.

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/2023-p...-tours-2079689

Once again, Preservation Detroit is participating in DOCOMOMO Tour Day, an annual celebration of modern architecture and design!!
https://www.docomomo-us.org/events/tour-day

Preservation Detroit's offering is the Yamasaki in Detroit's Cultural Center walking tour on Sunday, October 15, 1:30pm. Tickets available at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/docomom...s-714748129897

Tickets for Preservation Detroit's October Cemetery Tours are nearly sold out!!

A few tickets remain for the 10/21 Mt Elliott tour.

Saturday, October 7, 1:30pm - Mount Elliott Cemetery sold out
Sunday, October 8, 1:30pm - Elmwood Cemetery sold out
Saturday, October 14, 1:30pm - Woodlawn Cemetery sold out
Saturday, October 21, 1:30pm - Mount Elliott Cemetery
Saturday, October 21, 2pm - Mount Olivet Cemetery sold out
Saturday, October 28, 1:30pm - Woodlawn Cemetery sold out

To purchase tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/2023-p...-tours-2583399