Fisher Building-- real story behind gold roof removal?

[Burnsie]

It's been repeated ad infinitum in recent decades that the Fisher Building's gold leaf on the roof was removed during WWII to dissuade enemy bombers, or blacked over then and later removed. However, a 2/4/66 Free Press "Action Line" item states "Original roof was done in gold leaf, replaced in 1961 because it was cracking. The old gold's buried now under the Galilean Baptist Church parking lot in Livonia: It was used as filler because it was too expensive to separate the gold from the roofing."

This jibes with a 1960s-looking photo of the Fisher in an old Detroit tourist booklet I have; it shows part of the roof as solid gold and part either the current terra cotta, or construction towards that. I don't have access to the booklet at the moment, otherwise I'd scan that photo.

Does anybody know any additional detail? I'm leaning towards the church parking lot account, because the mention of it was so specific. Frustratingly, the Free Press contradicted itself 7 years later in a 1973 piece which gave the WWII bomber story. Maybe it indeed was blacked out during the war, but was uncovered afterwards, someone got things mixed up when informing the article writer, and thus begat the story we've heard ever since?

It's especially hard to figure out when color photos showing the Fisher's roof before the 1960s seem to be impossible to find. In photos on the Detroit Public Library site taken soon after the building was built, the roof seems to have the same pattern it has now, with the same lighter-colored lattice towards the top and darker underneath. Maybe it never had a completely gold roof at all, just trim? But that wouldn't explain the tourist booklet photo!

[Gistok]

Thanks for the interesting story Burnsie... maybe we'll get an answer from someone who can remember the building before the 1960s. The generally not too accurate Wikipedia on the building mentions that the roof was covered in asphalt in the 1940s, which could not be removed later without damaging the golden tiles. But it is possible the roof was removed in the early 1960s.

As a Movie Palace aficionado, I know that movie theatres [[and many many other buildings) took measures that would seem extreme today. In the hysteria following the Dec. 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, many building owners took steps to prevent them from being a bombing casualty... including darkening the building roof. As for theatres, the marquees and tall blade signs were not lit at night. A common thing that many theatre owners did was to remove large chandeliers in grand lobbies or auditoriums, in case of enemy bombing the chandeliers would not fall onto theatre patrons. More often than not many of these chandeliers were hastily put into non-secure storage... and ended up being dismantled into smaller lighting fixtures. Many posh residences across America have remnants of those unfortunate theatre fixtures that never made it back to their theatre at wars end.

Sadly 1960-61 was the time when the old Fisher Theatre was disemboweled of its' ornated Mayanesque plasterwork, and the 2,975 seat larger theatre was shrunk down to a smaller 2,089 seat modern [[teak and brass) uninspiring space. [[Note: references to the original theatre containing 3,500 seats was the usual boast among theatre owners, it never had more than 2,975 seats). A couple of quotes from 'American Movie Palaces' book...

"Mayanesque theatres were never in great supply, and on a truly large scale, they numbered only one, the Fisher."

"The early 1960s were not a time when historic preservation was popular. When the Nederlander Organization rebuilt the Fisher, restoration of the old theatre wasn't even thought of as an option. The irony is that although the new Fisher Theatre was modern... today it appears more dated than the old Fisher, had it survived."

Sorry to go off on a tangent...

[Zacha341]

Speaking of the Fisher, can any recall in the late 60's, early 70's when the tower was brightly lit, lower, below the roof line?

It's one of my favorite childhood memories...... it looked like the white house at night! I recall our family drives by it were so special!

https://digitalcollections.detroitpu...ndora%3A242383

[beachboy]

Speaking of the Fisher, can any recall in the late 60's, early 70's when the tower was brightly lit, lower, below the roof line?

Yes ... we could get a glimpse driving on the Lodge, when riding home to the Thumb with Mom & Dad after a weekend of shopping & fun. Thank you, Zacha, for the fond memory

And WJR broadcast ... "from the golden tower of the Fisher Building..." Allegedly, the announcers were required to recite this slogan for the station to obtain a nominal rent [1].

[1] "The Story of WJR", News/Talk WJR, Archived 12 Feb 2010. Web: https://web.archive.org/web/20100212050731/ http://wjr.com/article.asp?id=401547

[beachboy]

[...] In the hysteria following the Dec. 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, many building owners took steps to prevent them from being a bombing casualty... including darkening the building roof. As for theatres, the marquees and tall blade signs were not lit at night. A common thing that many theatre owners did was to remove large chandeliers in grand lobbies or auditoriums, in case of enemy bombing the chandeliers would not fall onto theatre patrons. More often than not many of these chandeliers were hastily put into non-secure storage... and ended up being dismantled into smaller lighting fixtures. Many posh residences across America have remnants of those unfortunate theatre fixtures that never made it back to their theatre at wars end.

Thank you for the history, Gistok!! You are a treasure

Some theaters still have their chandeliers, e.g., the Chicago Theatre:
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/b8/2d/39/b...handeliers.jpg

and the Los Angeles Theater:
https://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bph...qPSGA/348s.jpg

and many others. But you are correct [[as usual) in writing that many theaters foolishly removed their gorgeous pendant lighting fixtures.

So this begs the question ... what type and placement of lighting was in the original Fisher Theatre? Here is an online article with an image of FT's current type of chandelier under the balcony:
http://jovoneverett.blogspot.com/200...etroit-mi.html

[Gistok]

The old Fisher Theatre had mostly cove lighting in the Auditorium and Grand Lobby. It did have some smaller lights in the mezzanine level though, but hardly anything to worry about, bombing wise. So there were no large chandeliers in the theatre.

Sadly in 1960-61, when they shrunk down the fisher to 2/3 of its' former size, they didn't build within the outer ornate plaster shell... they ripped it all out.

[beachboy]

The old Fisher Theatre had mostly cove lighting in the Auditorium and Grand Lobby.

Thank you, Gistok!! Did the Auditorium have a metal-leaf or metallic-sheen finish on the ceiling vault? The image you posted seems to show something like that ... or might it merely be intersecting light patterns from cove-based luminaires?