Unknown - Console (Photograph from an archival source: THE DIAPASON June 1917, submitted by Jeff Scofield/Jeff Scofield)
1917 - Building exterior (Photograph from an archival source: cinematreasures.org, submitted by Jeff Scofield/Jeff Scofield)
Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)
2023-08-08 - From cinematreasures.org: When the Madison Theatre opened March 7, 1917, its $500,000 cost was one of the heftiest yet for a theatre in downtown Detroit. Built for the Kunsky circuit and designed by architect C. Howard Crane in an elegant, understated Neo-Classical style, it could seat over 1,800 and was then the largest of the theatres in Detroit’s former theatre district, Grand Circus Park. As with many theatres of the 1910’s and 1920’s, it was built along with an office tower, in case moving pictures were ‘just a passing fad’ and no longer profitable. The Madison Theatre was surrounded by a five story office building with a façade covered in terra cotta decoration in a classical motif. Other than a small, relatively simple marquee (removed in the 1960’s in favor of a larger and tackier one), the Madison Theatre could pass for a typical office block. The Madison Theatre also enjoyed immediate success, opening with the film “The Poor Little Rich Girl” starring Mary Pickford. Its features included gilded plasterwork in the auditorium and lobby spaces, including a frieze of maidens over the stage’s proscenium arch and a tiered orchestra pit. It was equipped with a Hilgreen-Lane organ. In 1984, the Madison Theatre was shuttered, its last film, ironically, was Christopher Walken in “The Dead Zone” (which remained on its marquee for a long time after it had closed). Though in poor shape (a victim of heavy water damage and decades of neglect), the Madison Theatre was still restorable, but nevertheless the auditorium was razed in 2001, with the marquee the only piece to show the building housed a theatre. -Jeff Scofield
Source: From THE DIAPASON January 1017
Detroit, Michigan
Madison Theatre
Hillgreen, Lane 1917 3/48
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GREAT ORCHESTRAL
16' Dbl Open Diapason 8' Geigen Principal
8' Major Diapason 8' Viola
8' Minor Diapason 8' Concert Flute
8' Gamba 8' Quintadena
8' Gamba Celeste 8' Dolce
8' Grosse Floete 8' Unda Maris
8' Doppel Floete 4' Flute d'Amour
8' Dulciana 2' Piccolo
4' Octave 8' Clarinet
4' Harmonic Flute 8' Orchestral Oboe
16' Tuba Profunda Harp
8' Tuba Mirabilis
8' Tuba Clarion ANTIPHONAL
Xylophone 8' Diapason
8' Gedeckt
SWELL 8' Erzähler
16' Contra Gamba 8' Vox Angelica
8' Open Diapason 4' Wald Floete
8' Hohl Floete 8' Cor Anglais
8' Viol d'Orchestre 8' Vox Humana
8' Viol Celeste Cathedral Chimes
8' Salicional
4' Rohr Floete PEDAL
16' Contra Fagotto 32' Resultant
8' French Horn 16' Dbl Open Diapason
8' Oboe 16' Bourdon
8' Vox Humana 16' Violone
8' Grosse Floete
8' Cello
16' Tuba Profunda
16' Contra Fagotta
8' Tromba
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