The old Senate Theater located 6424 Michigan at Livernois is coming back strong with an impressive lineup of films and organ performances. One of the screening will be The Great Detroit, It was-It is-It will be documentary, June 13th, at 7pm txt $7.
The Senate Theater opened in 1926 and its original architect was Christian W. Brandt, who designed a number of smaller Detroit houses like the Times Square Theater and LaSalle Garden Theater, most of which have not survived.
Remodeled sometime in the 1930’s in an Art Deco style, including a new facade and tall vertical marquee. The Senate Theater was remodeled again in 1949, this time in an Art Moderne style by architect Ted Rogvoy. It continued to operate until 1958 when it was closed.
The former theater was acquired by the Detroit Theater Organ Society in 1963 who renovated it and reduced seating from 1,200 to about 900. The Club moved the former Fisher Theater organ from the Iris Theater, where it was briefly kept in 1961-2, to the Senate Theater.
Since then, the Senate Theater has been home to the DTOS, and features organ concerts. It no longer has its projection equipment, so unlike the Redford Theater, which features organ concerts and classic motion pictures, the Senate Theater became a concert hall only.
It was closed in December 2009. In February 2011, volunteers began working on getting the theatre ready for a May 15, 2011 reopening. The Wurlitzer organ is again be a feature of its programs, and from May 2013, it the Senate Theater began screening movies again.
Click here for photos of the theater: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/senat...Tw6mQO6doBntAg
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