Inside the Ford Auditorium

[detroiturbex]

Hitting All the Wrong Notes: The Legacy of the Ford Auditorium

My contribution to the ongoing and spirited debate about the future of the Ford Auditorium.

These are just a few of the 70+ current and historic photographs featured on the webpage. All of the current pictures were taken in January of this year.











Rather than the usual ruin-porn parade, I've tried to include as much history and background as I could find. I hope this proves informative. Please don't hesitate to point out any factual errors I might have made. I appreciate your feedback.

Hitting All the Wrong Notes: The Legacy of the Ford Auditorium

[lincoln8740]

Excellent Work!!!
Thanks for that. I can't believe the Sculptures were not stolen.

[canuck]

Great job detroiturbex. Stunning! I feel sad for the people who took painstakingly tried to make this unprepossessing building into a strong venue for the DSA. Architecturally, both inside and out it is not a match for Detroit's downtown gems. I hope the plaza will be a major step in the rebirth of downtown.

[Maof]

had our graduation ceremory there, class of.....i ain't sayin'.

[Mackenzie68]

Had my senior prom there. Prom sorta sucked [[dj, not live music) but there was a thunderstorm and it was fun watching the lightning. Could we see the river from the lobby? My memory says so.

[East Detroit]

Turbex, very nice presentation, thanks!

[Gistok]

Yes thanks for the pics!!

The sound baffles [[for lack of a better word) above and to the sides of the stage were too little for throwing the sound into the auditorium. That flat ceiling was of no help whatsoever for acoustics.

As I've mentioned before you need nooks and crannies [[some type of irregular surfaces) for good acoustics in a performance space. Ford Auditorium had none....

For comparison great acoustic venues, such as C. Howard Crane's Orchestra Hall [[1919), Detroit Opera House [[1922) and United Artists Theatre [[1928) had lots of irregular plasterwork surfaces that bounced the sound around the venue so that even the farthest reaches of the auditoriums had great sound.

[detroitbob]

Great presentation on the history...BTW C. Howard Crane's firm acted as theatre design consultants to the architectural team...Dixon B. Kellogg actually was responsible for most of the design work and as noted in the presentation the scope changed from civic auditorium to symphony hall during construction.

[English]

Absolutely exquisite work, Detroiturbex.

A question: do other American cities leave their buildings as if a natural disaster has occurred, and everyone must flee, now? I am amazed by the sheer volume of stuff that remains in these edifices.

Those sculptures are the bee's knees. Any plans to auction or reuse?

[cosine]

Great job Turbex!! One minor factoid -- the picture of the cornerstone laying for the auditorium [[I think it's the 9th slide) shows Henry Ford II, not William Clay Ford.

[DetroitPole]

I'd really like to use the Way-back machine to jump into that room full of people around that Jetsons looking architectural model that flattens downtown and say, "STOP! YOU IDIOTS!"

[R8RBOB]

Thanks for the pictures. I can remember my high school graduation like it was yesterday and it was at Ford Auditorium on June 13, 1989, the same day the Pistons won their first NBA championship.

[Wesley Mouch]

Sure it didn't sound good.

Yes, it was a dated 50's interior updated with a dated 70s interior.

Indeed, Detroit doesn't really need another auditorium, we've plenty now.

Certainly 'history' is important.

But you can toss all that aside, and clearly observe that Ford Auditorium is a high-quality building.

I find little useful in it today, but what a well-built structure. Spacious lobby, lower lounge w/ excellent catering kitchen spaces, high-quality exterior cladding, clear span roof.

After decades of neglect, we own a great piece of architecture. it just has no use as an auditorium.

Recycling good buildings is important, not just for their history, but because 'we own' an excellent structure. This building could easily be a museum, or a small-scale 'autoworld' celebrating our heritage, or a Motown Records Hall of Fame.

Its a world-class structure in excellent condition. That's all you need to know. And we have chosen to toss it aside rather than wash the windows, weed the grass, and put it to productive use when times are better. We'll end up spending $40 million for something new there when $8 million would have given us a gem of a structure.

We spend our time now talking about 'eyesore' and 'history'. Neither matter. The debate shouldn't have been about either.

Pardon rant. we need to refocus our preservation efforts on preserving quality. This building is quality [[accoustics and interior decoration aside).

[Gistok]

Wesley Mouch... a well thought out post.... granted its' original use is confined to the dustbin of history...

There's no need for this as a performance venue. But I too was surprised at its' remarkable condition, despite being unused for over 2 decades. Too bad it's so far from Cobo... it could have been nicely subdivided into 2 levels of meeting rooms and catering area. That could have freed up the lower Cobo Arena level as an additional 50,000 sq. ft. of convention space. But sadly distance from Cobo is to its' disadvantage.

A museum idea would have been a nice adaptiver reuse. Especially with its own parking garage.

As bad as it was for its function as symphonic space... it certainly could have found some creative reuse.

Anyone who says it's an eyesore needs to take a second look at other worst parts of the city... where the $700,000 demolition money could have been better spent.

[Wesley Mouch]

Gis...

The ol' eyesore argument is overuse and pretty weak. Its use shows lack of understanding of the care and feeding of buildings. I think it usually code for two legs bad, four lets good....ahen, I mean old building bad, new building good.

New buildings can be bad. And old buildings can be good.

Give the ol' Ford a mild chemical wash, wash the windows, pave the sidewalk for say, $100,000 and she's look as good as most of Lincoln Center from 100 yds.

[oladub]

My Father was in charge of all the carpentry in the Ford Auditorium when it was built. He was proud of his crew's work there. I hate to break the news to him that the owners didn't take care of this fine building.

[Whitehouse]

That first design looks quite a lot like the Buffalo Kleinhans music hall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleinhans_Music_Hall




One of the most incredible photo stories ever on a Detroit building. Very comprehensive. Kudos to all involved.

[ja!mz]

wow....great pictures...sad... I remember many moons ago standing on that stage getting my high school diploma as well..I remember standing in that lobby with my parents thinking how cool it looked. Typical Detroit government a holes, always so eager to destroy our history, to put up a easily forgotten piece of crap McBuilding

[Ltdave]

ive never been in there and to be honest i dont really know much about the building but i agree, why does it look like there was a chemical accident inside that caused everyone to un-ass in a huge hurry? i understand the issue with the acoustics [[or lack there of) but is that why it has fallen into dis-use? not being from 'the city' no one i know really has any information on the joint...

i think it was the 5th picture [[with the Bob-Lo boats tied up); is that where Hart Plaza is now? when did all that get razed for whats there now? i went to Bob-Lo two or three times but i couldnt tell you where we caught the boat or what the surrounding neighborhood looked like...

thanks for the compilation...

[Hastings]

Hey yall glad to join ya; Anybody remember WABX used to have concerts here about mid 70's. Called them working man concerts $2.50 and $3.50. I saw Heart,Status Que, Boom town rats,Thin lizzy. I think maybe Lenard skynard and Rush. Mostly new bands pushing their first album. I saw alot of shows down there.

[beachboy]

Hitting All the Wrong Notes: The Legacy of the Ford Auditorium

My contribution to the ongoing and spirited debate about the future of the Ford Auditorium.

Wow! What a beautiful compilation of pictures, narrative, and art. Am happy to see the Marshall Fredericks sculptures donated to SVSU and on display there.

I recall playing the organ at FA, early '60s...a music friend got me in there - what a trip!! Although it seemed relatively subdued, from where the console was placed...

Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos and text

[Kathleen]

Nice work in pulling together the photos and the story of Ford Auditorium's history and current status. Thank you!

[56packman]

I am amused at the letters to the Free Press, calling Ford auditorium an "Eyesore". Demolish Ford, and the Packard plant still stands as a center of lawlessness.

[detroiturbex]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. And if you didn't make it all the way to the end credits slide, I especially appreciate the contributions that 56packman, Gistok, and detroitbob have made in previous posts about the theater and organ. They really helped me in the course of my research.

In terms of structural stability, the building is in my totally uninformed opinion in great shape. Very sturdy, little in the way of water damage, no mold to speak of. The basement is flooded and that's about it.

By chance does anyone know where blueprints for this building could be found?

[Brian1979]

Whats the story with the underground parking garage. May be a dumb question but is it still open and usable? Ive always wondered about that.

The entrances to the underground garage are in the median of Jefferson, but it hasn't been used in quite awhile. I believe there are gates that block anyone from entering it.