Fisher Building Theater

[detroitbob]

The mid-century design is pleasant, but it wasn't worth scrapping the original for it.

The movie theater had outlived its popularity and was loosing money as were all the big movie palaces, with the exception of the FOX which had made the switch to exploitation films.
The conversion to a smaller design was needed to convert the house into a legitimate theater and Rapp & Rapp was chosen to do the conversion. As the foremost "golden age" architectural firm they created a mid century modern design using all the old tricks, marble, brass, bronze, silk wall coverings, carpeting and substantial seats. It still holds up well. The alternative would have been demolition or possible conversion to office space but the Fisher brothers wanted to keep the draw a theater would create. D T Nederlander was using the old [[Grand) Riviera Theatre at Gr River and Joy as a stop gap after the demolition of the Shubert-Lafayette and the conversion of the old Orchestra Hall [[which actually Nederlander had purchased) for legit use was deemed impossible due to lack of stage and wing space. This was the only viable alternative.
60 years later, it holds up very well and now the Ambassador Group from London UK is the operating company and it appears more and varied programing is happening.