The Fillmore Detroit is a multi-use entertainment venue operated by

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational Entertainment industry, entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Live Nation (events promoter), Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It ...

. Built in 1925, the Fillmore Detroit was known for most of its history as the State Theatre. It is located near the larger Fox Theatre in the

Detroit Theatre District The performing arts in Detroit include orchestra, live music, and theater, with more than a dozen performing arts venues. The stages and old time film palaces are generally located along Woodward Avenue, the city's central thoroughfare, in the Do ...

along Woodward Avenue across from

Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium (Detroit), Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, t ...

and

Grand Circus Park The Grand Circus Park Historic District contains the Grand Circus Park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan that connects the theatre district with its financial district. It is bisected by Woodward Avenue, four blocks north of Campus Martius Park, ...

. The Fillmore Detroit features a theatre with a Grand Lobby and three levels of seating, as well as the State Bar & Grill which has a separate entrance and is open when the theatre is not hosting events. The

Detroit Music Awards The Detroit Music Awards Foundation is a Michigan 501(c)(3) organization, whose mission is to recognize Detroit area musicians working on national, regional, and local levels. The Foundation supports and nurtures the musical community in Detroit ...

are held annually at The Fillmore Detroit in April. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982.

History

The site of the Fillmore was previously home to an earlier theatre known as the Central and then, from 1913-1923, as the Grand Circus Theatre. This theatre was demolished to make way for the 1925 construction of what was then called the Francis Palms Building. The building was named for

Francis Palms Francis Palms (1809–1886) was the largest landholder in Michigan during the mid-1850s. He had major business interests as well and was nicknamed " Croesus" because of his wealth. Life and career He was born in Antwerp, First French Empire, in ...

, a

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

native who moved to Detroit in 1832 and made his fortune in real estate development.State Theatre/ Francis Palms Building
from Detroit1701 Palms' descendants continued in real estate as the Palms Realty Company, and constructed this building at a time when Detroit's population and the popularity of movies was booming. The theatre was constructed in 1925 as a movie house in the

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style of architecture.

C. Howard Crane Charles Howard Crane (August 13, 1885 – August 14, 1952) was an American architect who was primarily active in Detroit, Michigan. His designs include Detroit's Fox Theatre and Olympia Stadium, as well as LeVeque Tower in Columbus, Ohio, whi ...

was the original architect, and the building is still called the Francis Palms Building. The theatre was originally called the State Theatre when it opened in 1925. It was renamed the Palms-State Theatre in 1937 and the Palms Theatre in 1946. In 1982 it was renamed back to the State Theatre. And in 2007 (as a national re-branding) it was renamed, this time the Fillmore Theatre. The building is twelve stories high and covered with

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

, with an eight-story auditorium extending to the rear of the building.Palms, Francis, Building and State Theater
from the state of Michigan The office tower has elaborate Beaux-Arts Italian Renaissance decorations on all but the ground floor, which was modernized in about 1960.

Current use

The Fillmore Detroit is a concert venue for popular music acts as well as hosting many special events. The venue's current

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

is 2,900, 2,084 for reserved seating. The mezzanine and balcony levels still contain their original theatre seating. In March 2007,

announced that the State Theatre would become the Fillmore Detroit as part of a multi-city extension of

the Fillmore The Fillmore is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California. Built in 1912 and originally named the Majestic Hall, it became the Fillmore Auditorium in 1954. It is in Western Addition, on the edge of the Fillmore District and Upper Fil ...

brand, similar to what has been done previously with the

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...

franchise. Various changes were implemented to evoke the Fillmore's iconic venue in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The official inaugural show under the Fillmore Detroit re-branding was Fergie's June 13, 2007, performance.

has continued the gradual restoration of the Italian Renaissance theatre. The outer lobby and rotunda lobby were restored in the 1990s. The grand foyer columns and auditorium proscenium arch were more recent restorations. Live Nation has restored the barrel vaulted ceiling of the three-story grand foyer, and has plans to work on the upper reaches of the auditorium in increments.

''American Idol''

In 2015, the fourteenth season of ''American Idol'' held semi-finals at The Fillmore Detroit. Pre-recorded episodes were aired on Fox starting on February 25, followed by two live episodes, the series' first broadcast from outside Los Angeles, on March 3 and 4.

Gallery

Image:Palms Building - Detroit Michigan.jpg, The Palms Building houses the Fillmore Detroit theatre Image:FillmoreDetroitmarqueedaylight.jpg, The marquee extends over

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...

Image:StateTheatreDetroit.jpg, The Fillmore Detroit was known for most of its history as the State Theatre

References

External links

The Fillmore Detroit
website *''Cinema Treasures'' website of old movie houses profile
The State Theatre

Fillmore Detroit Myspace PageFillmore Detroit reopens after a summer of restoration
— Detroit News, October 5, 2018
Fillmore marquee to be completed this month, December 2018
— Detroit News, December 11, 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fillmore Detroit, The Cinemas and movie theaters in Michigan Theatres in Detroit Downtown Detroit Concert halls in Michigan Movie palaces Music venues in Michigan Performing arts centers in Michigan Event venues established in 1925 National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan 1925 establishments in Michigan Woodward Avenue