Grand Circus theater/Opera house

[exmotowner]

I was in the Grand Circus 2 weeks before it closed and it was in bad shape then, but my understanding it that it stood empty with a hole in the roof for 3 years after that and got in way worse shape. I was wondering if there are any pictures from just before the restoration? I would like to see how bad it had deterioated after I had been in there. Also, the pictures I've seen of the restored opera house [[Insides photos) are very limited. Was wondering if anyone had any good photos of the restored theater? Comming up this year for the theater tour and looking forward very much to seeing this theater [[and the others). Thanks.

[Krawlspace]

The Opera House was originally the Capitol Theatre, a C. Howard Crane house.
Tons of pics on Google...

[Pam]

http://www.motopera.org/doh/history.html

[RickBeall]

That restoration was one of Detroits great successes! It looked about as bad as the United Artists.

[exmotowner]

Thanks for all the help guys. I've looked at these sites before, but the "opera house" site only shows a small bit of the restored theater. What I would like to see is what shape it was in just before the renovation started. I seen a clip on Youtube and the guy said that there was so much water in the auditorium that a piano was floating in it. When they closed it and put up that red fence around it I called all over the place to make sure it was not being torn down. The owner assured me it was not. So I slept well that night anyway. :-)

[kenp]

My brother worked on the Opera House project, I'm sure he has pics as well as a first hand account of its state before renovation.

[56packman]

I toured the building in 1988, it was owned by a speculator from Baltimore who didn't know he owned it, his people found it and bought it as a tax dodge. It was in bad shape then, but unlike the UA the place had not been robbed blind. The stained glass ceiling in the outer lobby was gone, and soffit lights from the auditorium were starting to show up in antique shops, but a lot more of the place remained. The last operator in the early 80s was another nickle and dime, 0% maintenance/reinvestment rock promoter, and for a while it looked like the Capitol/Grand Circus was going to be the Michigan part II. MOT had done a sterling job and we now have a showplace again.

[kenp]

I was hoping my brother had some pics but sorry to say he didnt. He did have this to say:

"By the time I got involved, they had fixed the roof to stabilize the building. Most of the seats had been removed. It was like an abandoned building otherwise - just left to decay. I explored around a fair bit - got up to the projection room and around backstage. It was more classical interior design - far less over the top than the Fox with all the gaudy stuff, but still cool. No pics that I remember taking at least."

[exmotowner]

Great story Kenp. I love hearing about all the old buildings. I used to go downtown and just wander through them. Yes I got thrown out of a lot of them, but all I wanted to see was really the lobbies anyway so I was good with that. God I still cannot for the life of me figure out why someone would buy something so historic and so beautiful and then just let it rot. DONT GET IT AT ALL! I guess its just a tax right off for the big guys.

[Detroitej72]

I toured the building in 1988, it was owned by a speculator from Baltimore who didn't know he owned it, his people found it and bought it as a tax dodge.

And then we wonder why Detroit has so many abandoned historic buildings. These tax loopholes certainly are a cancer to the city and need to be closed as soon as possible.

[56packman]

That was 1988, I don't know if those conditions still exist, maybe you should put in a call to Matty's office.

[Gistok]

I think I can find a pic of the auditorium in a ruinous state somewhere around here....

Interestingly enough the theatre was closed for 13 of its' 88 years. It opened as the Capitol on January 12, 1922, and owner John Kunsky sold it to Paramount Corp. in 1929... when it was renamed the Paramount. In 1932 [[during the height of the depression) it closed its' doors until new owners bought it in 1934, renaming it the Broadway Capitol.

In 1960 it got a slight remodeling [[mercifully it wasn't modernized) and was renamed the Grand Circus. It closed in 1985, and Michigan Opera Theatre bought it in 1989... after they were able to buy 2 other bordering smaller buildings.... needed for a new stage house. Remodeling started in the early 1990s and it opened in 1996 under the DOT name, while restoration was still a long way from complete.

When it opened in 1922 as the Capitol, owner John Kunsky boasted 4,250 seats... he claimed it was the 5th largest theatre in the world at the time... both boasts were untrue. When it first opened it had 3,384 seats, and during the 1960 remodeling seating was reconfigured to 3,367 seats.

Today seating is 2,600 to almost 2,800, depending on whether the Orchestra Pit is needed for musicians.

[detroitbob]

I saw the interior during the 'drying out period' after the roof had been repaired and it was similar to the UA...the amount of plaster damage to the ceiling was shocking and after the contractors removed the remaining damaged plaster the place was barren...if my memory serves me the lobby was not badly damaged...it seemed the center of the ceiling was worse than the side walls which was unusual as the major damage at Orchestra Hall and the UA included side walls due initially to broken internal drains followed by roof deterioration at the coping of the roof to the exterior walls. When I was able to see the nearly complete ceiling plaster restoration I was absolutely amazed. The Opera House along with Orchestra Hall shows that it can be done...I am glad they were completed when they were...with today's costs the job would take far longer, and overall costs very well might prohibit such projects.

[exmotowner]

Thanks for all the great information guys. Love hearing these stories.

[radiants0ul]

There are several new photos of the "before and after" restoration of the house on the Detroit Opera House Facebook page...become a fan, while you're at it!

http://www.facebook.com/detroitoperahouse

[Gistok]

Radiants0ul, thanks for the link! I toured the building back in 1991, before any work was started. The biggest mystery back then [[as the photos suggest) was what the interior colors were?? Everything was so gray and decrepit, that no colors stood out.

The colorful images of the auditorium show the theatre back circa 1997-98 when the procenium and sounding board above it were finished in shades of gold and blue, but the balcony overhang and mezzanine boxes were left unpainted white.

I'm sure that Dr. David DiChiera kept the box level unpainted until the rest of the building was finished [[more donations). Otherwise once the balcony and mezzanine were finished, it could have slowed donations.

My favorite architectural detail of the theatre is the puzzle like sounding board above the procenium. It is what gives the space such fantastic acoustics.

Here's a closeup of much of the sounding board from the cover of the 1998 Michigan Opera Theatre annual booklet... called BRAVO. Unfortunately the image doesn't do the brilliant blue tones justice, but the Italian Renaissance details are easily apparent:

[exmotowner]

That facebook page is great. Thats excatly what I was wanting to see. When I was in there 2 weeks before it closed, it was still beautiful [[or you could tell it was at one time) but it was pretty erie. Like something out of an old movie. It would have been a good place to have phantom of the opera. Of course the UA would be the best for that.

[xD_Brklyn]

My dad worked at the theater as an usher in the late 40s. When he saw the restored theater about five years ago, he said it looks better now than it did when he worked there. Beautiful building.

[j32885]

Out of all the big Detroit theaters in downtown, Detroit Opera House [[Grand Circus) is the only one which I've never been too. -_-

[1KielsonDrive]

There used to be a real cool, little bar in the theatre building on the Broadway side. It was called Petrone's. It was almost as big as a large walk-in closet.

[Gistok]

I thought I would resurrect this thread because I found a really nice pic of the Ford [[Broadway) Lobby.

The Capitol [[later Paramount, later Broadway Capitol, later Grand Circus, now Detroit Opera House) was the only one of Detroit's major downtown palaces with 2 entrances. One was a 1 story rather plain lobby... the Madison Ave. entrance for the "carriage trade" [[cars).

The other entrance was on Broadway Ave. [[where several streetcar lines passed by)... and was always considered the main entrance. The Broadway entrance [[now known as the Ford Lobby) was a 2 story lobby with a magnificent stained glass lighted ceiling with chandelier.

Here is a nice pic of that ceiling from Elsuperbob.... [[and yes Gsgeorge... according to your comments on this link... you should take the PW movie palace tour to get shots of all the palaces... ):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elsuper...n/photostream/

This 2 story lobby connects to the 3 story Grand Foyer, a much larger opulent space.

[kryptonite]

There are several new photos of the "before and after" restoration of the house on the Detroit Opera House Facebook page...become a fan, while you're at it!

http://www.facebook.com/detroitoperahouse

that link was excellent. I forwarded it to some friends. Thanks.

I was in the Grand Circus for the Plasmatics and a couple of other concerts, on a tour during the restoration, and since it has reopened as the opera house. What a great place.

[kathy2trips]

And then we wonder why Detroit has so many abandoned historic buildings. These tax loopholes certainly are a cancer to the city and need to be closed as soon as possible.

Amen to that! Politicians, do your duty! This would solve a lot of our abused structures issues.

[Gistok]

I thought I would resurrect this Grand Circus Theatre [[Detroit Opera House) thread, rather than open a new one....

In doing some research for the United Artists Theatre thread, I stumbled across some opera house information.

The Grand Circus Theatre [[1960-85), previously the Broadway Capitol [[1934-60), previously the Paramount [[1929-32), previously the Capitol [[1922-29)... and today the Detroit Opera House was born as a vaudeville theatre that had all the acoustics and opulence of an opera house.

Well I had always thought that there was only 1 unrestored American theatre that would make a more beautiful opera house than the DOH. That was Boston's Keith's Memorial Theatre.

After many years of decay this 1928 gem was finally restored as the Boston Opera House earlier this decade. Ironically, it only hosts broadway shows and ballet. All the Boston operas [[Boston Lyric Opera) are done in Boston's nearby historic Shubert Theatre. So much for a name!!

But this 1928 theatre was one of theatre architect Thomas Lamb's greatest works, and the ceiling of this theatre is IMHO more beatiful than that of any other American theatre.

However, the wonderful gold and blue of the theatre ceiling is unfortunately not carried out thru the rest of the theatre, which instead has a red and ivory color, with gold accents. And as beautiful as it may look, it doesn't have the richness that the Detroit Opera House's primarily gold and blue colors have. The red and ivory are only so-so when it comes to opulence. But the ceiling of [[former Keith's Memorial Theatre) Boston Opera House is without parallel.

http://bostonoperahouseonline.com/

[[Be sure to watch the continuing background images).

Although the non-opera Boston Opera House has a beatuiful Baroque interior... the richness of the colors of the Detroit Opera House, give its' Italian Renaissance interior added opulence....

[detroitbob]

Both auditoriums are unique and as such, their interior colors are based on designs also unique!