I'll leave the history to "The Rat"
This place was not on my list but upon having a wander round found it to be open. I can only apologise for the crappy photos, I only took a compact to Detroit as I didn't fancy lugging a grands worth of camera gear round the dodgy areas I planned to visit.
Upon entering I thought the place looked pretty far gone, but in fact much of the plasterwork, balconies and circle remained intact. As with cinemas back home I was drawn to the cubby holes these buildings always have and again like the UK there was much to find, seems American explorers do not possess the skills for raking around like we do
Up in the void between the circle and stalls there was all sorts, from cast iron seat sides bearing the "N" for National, soda pop bottles, fag packets and the best find, 1914 programmes for "the battle of the sexes", a silent movie.
Other features of note were the coloured glass, stencilling and the solid marble ticket counter. The projection room was bare but had another cubby into the loft filled with spent carbon rods and film canisters, some complete with labels.
I would like to add that I was quite on edge in here, being alone in Downtown Detroit is a little nerve racking, so apologies for the rushed photos. I was quite glad to be in and out in less than a hour. I would urge local explorers to dig a little deeper in those holes and attics, there is more to find here...
Spent Carbon rods from the projector
And the dumping ground for the above
Fly tower from the roof
Some of the finds from the attic and crawl space
Detail of tilework and broken soda pop bottle
Apologies for flash photo
Under the circle, Various seat parts and other cinema related bits and bobs. Obviously somebody was tired of sweeping up!
The seats were long gone, probably taken by "scrappers", I found a few of the original seat brackets up in the loft though, cast with the "N" for "National"
1914 silent movie programme
Here is a link to some info about the film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Sexes_(1914_film)
This place was not on my list but upon having a wander round found it to be open. I can only apologise for the crappy photos, I only took a compact to Detroit as I didn't fancy lugging a grands worth of camera gear round the dodgy areas I planned to visit.
Upon entering I thought the place looked pretty far gone, but in fact much of the plasterwork, balconies and circle remained intact. As with cinemas back home I was drawn to the cubby holes these buildings always have and again like the UK there was much to find, seems American explorers do not possess the skills for raking around like we do
Up in the void between the circle and stalls there was all sorts, from cast iron seat sides bearing the "N" for National, soda pop bottles, fag packets and the best find, 1914 programmes for "the battle of the sexes", a silent movie.
Other features of note were the coloured glass, stencilling and the solid marble ticket counter. The projection room was bare but had another cubby into the loft filled with spent carbon rods and film canisters, some complete with labels.
I would like to add that I was quite on edge in here, being alone in Downtown Detroit is a little nerve racking, so apologies for the rushed photos. I was quite glad to be in and out in less than a hour. I would urge local explorers to dig a little deeper in those holes and attics, there is more to find here...
Spent Carbon rods from the projector
And the dumping ground for the above
Fly tower from the roof
Some of the finds from the attic and crawl space
Detail of tilework and broken soda pop bottle
Apologies for flash photo
Under the circle, Various seat parts and other cinema related bits and bobs. Obviously somebody was tired of sweeping up!
The seats were long gone, probably taken by "scrappers", I found a few of the original seat brackets up in the loft though, cast with the "N" for "National"
1914 silent movie programme
Here is a link to some info about the film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Sexes_(1914_film)
