118 Monroe Street
The National Theatre, The Palace (Theatre)
Yesterday, I posted about the ill-fated Pochelon Building. Across the block, the National Theatre waits in limbo. Current plans will transport and reutilize the ornate frontage. All but the facade of the only remaining Albert Kahn-designed theatre may soon be reduced to rubble.
Monroe Street was a theatre district just after the turn of the century. Various live shows dotted the landscape, ranging in size and production scale.
The National Theatre opened on Tuesday, September 26, 1911, at 11 AM. The structure was ‘absolutely fire proof,’ had ‘washed air ventilation,’ and all the seats were 10 cents a pop. When it opened, it specialized in vaudeville shows.
According to a Detroit Free Press article from over a half-century after it opened, the National was designed by Albert Kahn & Ernest Wilby. To date, I haven’t found another theatre designed by Albert Kahn. He did work on churches and auditoriums, which are similar, but nothing quite like the National.
An advertisement for the theatre from 1912 said that ‘the melting pot of social happiness is a visit to the National Theatre.’ The hours were from 10 AM to 11 PM.
As theatres modernized, the National flirted with motion pictures but quickly reverted to live and burlesque shows. This would continue through the 1960s
In a profile of Busty Russel in April 1970, the Detroit Free Press dove into the underbelly of the National Theatre.
By then, the National was the last theatre with live strip shows. The noontime shows would have crowds of well over 100 people, and, on weekends, packed shows were typical. Seats were $3 a pop. By then, most of the Monroe Block had become adult bookstores and X-Rated movie houses. According to the Detroit Free Press, “the National has become the focal point of a gradually developing ‘Sin Strip.’”
The article referred to Busty Russel as a “name” performer, an improvement over what the Detroit Free Press called the “old hags who used to dance locally.” At the time, the National was managed by Sonny Clark.
By the mid-1970s, the theatre had been renamed the Palace and no longer had live shows. For $1 a seat, you could see the raunchiest X-Rated films allowed. The Monroe Block was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 13, 1975. Around that same time, the Palace (still known as the National) Theatre closed for good.
In 1990, most of the Monroe Block was razed to make way for new development that never came. However, the National wasn’t demolished. It’s the last remaining structure from Detroit’s first theatre district.
In June 1990, John Gallagher reported in the Detroit Free Press that there were plans to turn the former National Theatre site into a dance club. There would be a two or three-story addition on the west side of the theatre, complete with a rooftop patio. The facade would be restored, and multi-level dance floors and conversation areas would be installed in the theatre. The plans never got off the ground, even with money and initiative, and the National remained vacant. Numerous other plans were floated over the years, but none took hold.
At some point before the demolition of the Monroe Block in 1990, a parking garage was constructed on the northeast side of the National Theatre. It had first-floor retail and at least four levels for parking. Shortly after 2010, the structure became vacant and was used as a canvas for graffiti artists and as a way for folks to sneak on the theatre roof, at least, according to Detroit urbex folklore.
For years, the National would be boarded up only to be ripped open one evening by someone curious enough to want to go inside. Walking down Monroe Street, you could often see a piece of wood missing and get a glance at the ticket booth sitting in the entryway.
On the inside, the National wasn’t holding up very well. Despite a new roof being constructed at some point, much of the ornate detail work had already been destroyed by a combination of neglect and mother nature. However, the bones remained in reasonably good condition.
In 2016, Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock purchased the entire Monroe Block. Initially, plans called for demolishing the whole block, including the National Theatre and Pochelon Building. However, a new plan a few years salvaged part of the theatre’s facade as a walkway for the entrance to the building. A groundbreaking was held, but no work was completed.
Last week, yet another plan was launched by Bedrock. This time, the entire facade would be saved; however, it would be moved to the Cadillac Square side of the block. It’s unclear what the fate of the rest of the block would be, namely, the Pochelon Building.
Reusing the facade is the least that should be done for the National Theatre. It’s the last remaining structure from a once vibrant theatre district, and there isn’t another structure like it left in Detroit. According to the Detroit Free Press, new plans would utilize the facade of the National Theatre as an entrance to a new concert venue.
Why can’t Dan Gilbert, who is worth an estimated $17,000,000,000 and has received millions in tax breaks from the taxpayers of Detroit, restore the historically significant National Theatre instead of painstakingly moving the facade to be used for a new venue?
Regardless of what happens with the structure in the future, I’m happy to have been able to document it over the past few years. I still haven’t gotten a photograph I’m thrilled with, but these will do for now.
