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, a Belgian native who moved to Detroit in 1832 and made his fortune in real estate development. 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 style of architecture. C. Howard Crane 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 Theatre in 1937. In 1982 it was renamed back to the State Theatre. And in 2007 it was renamed, this time the Fillmore Theatre. The building is twelve stories high and covered with terra cotta, with an eight-story auditorium extending to the rear of the building. 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 is 2,900, 2,084 for reserved seating. The mezzanine and balcony levels still contain their original theatre seating. In March 2007, Live Nation announced that the State Theatre would become the Fillmore Detroit as part of a multi-city extension of the Fillmore brand, similar to what has been done previously with the House of Blues franchise. Various changes were implemented to evoke the Fillmore's iconic venue in San Francisco, California. The official inaugural show under the Fillmore Detroit re-branding was Fergie's June 13, 2007 performance. Live Nation 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.
In 2015, American Idol held semi-finals and began airing the episodes on February 25, 2015, and continued for four episodes. They were filmed at The Fillmore in Detroit, Michigan. They top 24 episodes were filmed February 19, 2015. The male contestants aired on Wednesday, February 25, 2015. The female contestants aired on Thursday, February 26, 2015. Those who obtained the most votes per gender group advanced onto the Top 16 and sang a song from Motown to hopefully advance further the following week. The top 16 episodes were filmed March 4, 2015, and March 5, 2015. After ten contestants were chosen to perform in the finals based on the public vote, the six semi-finalists were eligible for their Instant Wildcard pick. The judges only picked two contestants to perform in the finals.
