Majestic Theater (Detroit, Michigan)


The Majestic Theatre is a theatre located at 4126-4140 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Today, the theatre is mainly a music venue. It hosts a variety of musical concerts in three separate areas of the building: The Majestic, The Majestic Cafe, and The Magic Stick.

History

The Majestic Theatre, designed by C. Howard Crane, opened on April 1, 1915. The theatre originally seated 1,651 people, and the facade was designed in an arcaded Italian style. In 1934, the front 35 feet of the theatre were removed when Woodward Avenue was widened to its present size. The entire facade was redesigned into its current striking Art Deco motif by the firm of Bennett & Straight. The theater now boasts the largest enameled metal panel Art Deco facade in the Detroit metropolitan region.
The theatre eventually closed, and the building was used as a church for a time, and later as a photographic studio. It lay vacant for ten years. The present owner purchased the building in 1984.
There is a myth that legendary magician Harry Houdini gave his last performance on stage here, on Halloween night 1926. In fact, Houdini last performed at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit and died a few days later of peritonitis at Detroit's Grace Hospital on October 31, 1926.
On October 25, 2019, The Majestic Theatre unveiled its new Marquee facing Woodward Avenue. This new facade is part of a greater renovation plan made public by the venue's owners in Spring 2018. The owner's pledged to put $1,000,000 of renovations into the building.

Current use

The Majestic Theatre operates as part of the Majestic Theatre Center, which includes the nearby Garden Bowl bowling alley, The Majestic Cafe, The Magic Stick, and Sgt. Pepperoni's.