The WJBK-TV Studios Building is a broadcasting building located at 7441 Second Avenue in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It 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 2016. It is the only building in Detroit designed by noted

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach, Florida, ...

architect John L. Volk. The property is currently owned by Halcor Studio Live LLC.

History

WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on West 9 Mile Road in th ...

began as an AM radio station (now

WLQV WLQV (1500 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. It uses ...

) in Detroit. In 1947 the station's television license was awarded by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

to George B. Storer's Fort Industry Broadcasting, the forerunner to

Storer Communications Storer Communications, known from 1927 to 1952 as the Fort Industry Company and from 1952 to 1983 as Storer Broadcasting, was an American media company that owned television and radio stations and cable television systems. Founded by George Butle ...

WJBK-TV WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities ...

began broadcasting on Channel 2 in Detroit on October 24, 1948 as a CBS affiliate. It was the third television station to go on the air in Detroit. The station began broadcasting from the

Detroit Masonic Temple The Detroit Masonic Temple is the world's largest Masonic Temple. Located in the Cass Corridor neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Street, the building serves as a home to various Freemasonry, masonic organizations including the ...

, but in 1956 Storer commissioned John L. Volk to design this studio. Storer and Volk were friends, and Storer had already commissioned a long string of works from Volk. The building was constructed that year, and WJBK moved its operations here. Multiple shows were produced by Storer in the building, including its newscast, ''Sagebush Shorty'', and '' Sir Graves Ghastly''. However, by 1971, WJBK had outgrown the studio and operations were moved to a newer building on Nine Mile Road in Southfield. The Detroit building was sold to Detroit's public television station

WTVS WTVS (channel 56) is a PBS member television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned by Detroit Public Media. Its main studios are located at the Riley Broadcast Center and HD Studios on Clover Court in Wixom, with an additional st ...

, Channel 56, for $750,000. WTVS used it until 2009, when they sold it to Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. Mosaic used the building until 2014, when it was sold to a developer. In 2022, the former WJBK-TV studios building was purchased, and donated to the nonprofit Midnight Golf Program to become their new headquarters. A $10–12 million reconstruction is planned.

Description

The former WJBK-TV Studios Building is a two-story red brick

Georgian Revival Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...

structure with limestone trim and brick quoins. The front facade has a projecting central section with a limestone-trimmed entry portico with flanked by Ionic columns. Equally spaced aluminum six-over-six double-hung windows run on either side of the entrance, and above on the second floor. Atop that is a tall frieze, classical cornice, and a limestone trimmed pediment with an oval window in the center. Many former Storer stations operated from studio facilities built in a similar style. The interior of the building is divided into two sections: the office/administrative portion and the studio portion. The office portion contains a long rectangular entrance lobby and waiting room paneled with cypress wood, and a large two story open staircase, with curbed transition between rungs, in the center. The studio portion holds two studio spaces and a control room. The studio space was intended to be divided up, holding different sets in the studio at one time as needed.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places listings in Wayne County, Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Television studios in the United States Georgian Revival architecture in Michigan Industrial buildings completed in 1956

History

Description

See also

References