Fox Theatre Detroit

Built for William Fox (1879-1952) and the Fox Theatre chain, the Detroit Fox is the largest and most exotic eclectic Hindu-Siamese-Byzantine theater of the golden age of the movie palace (1925-1930). The Fox stands today, along with its 1929 twin, the Saint Louis Fox Theatre, as one of the relatively few remaining movie palaces in the country. It epitomizes the opulence and grandeur that characterized the era.

Designed by C. Howard Crane and built in 1928, the Detroit Fox Theatre is the culmination of flamboyant movie palace architectural design. Crane, who had designed over 250 theaters by 1928, considered the Fox his best effort. In its size, ornate decoration and mechanical systems it was the premier example of what a movie palace could be. A 1928 Detroit Free Press article stated, "Detroit's Fox Theater has the largest clear span balcony in the world. The stage proper is larger than the Roxy Theater in New York, and has the largest and finest projection room and equipment of any theater in the world." Today, the Fox holds the distinction of being the largest continually operating theater in the country.

The Fox Theatre near Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit, Michigan was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989. From the Roaring Twenties, it is one of the first theatres to feature live sound. Located within the Theatre in Detroit, this ornate performance center has 5,048 seats, (5,174 seats if removable seats placed in the raised orchestra pit are included). It is the second largest theatre in the country after the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Fox was fully restored in 1988.

History
The Detroit Fox is the largest of the Fox Theaters. Built in 1928 for William Fox, founder of 20th Century Fox, it was the first movie palace to have live sound. The architect, C. Howard Crane, designed a lavish interior blend of Burmese, Chinese, Indian and Persian motifs. There are three levels of seating, the Main Floor above the orchestra pit, the Mezzanine, and the Gallery (balcony). The exterior of the attached 10-story building features an Art Deco facade, which at night is illuminated and can be seen for several blocks. The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri is its architectural twin with about 500 fewer seats.

The Fox remained Detroit's premier movie destination for decades. By the 1970s the theatre was a grimy venue reduced to showing horror and Kung fu movies. Unlike other downtown theatres in the 70s like the Michigan, United Artist and Capitol the Fox managed to remain open. The 1980s brought new hope for the Fox when in 1984 Chuck Forbes, owner of State and Gem theaters, brought the prospect for renovation; however, he didn't complete his plans.

In 1988, the theatre's new owners, Mike and Marian Ilitch, fully restored the Fox at a cost of $12 million. Ilitch Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in the Fox Theater Office Building. The area of downtown near Grand Circus Park which encompasses Fox Theatre is some referred to as Foxtown after the theater . In 2000 Comerica Park opened and helped to revitalize the area along with Ford Field in 2002. The Fox is Detroit’s top venue for Broadway shows.

Productions
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular was an annual favorite from 1997 through 2005. The theatre was host to the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on March 31, 2007, the night before WrestleMania 23, being held at nearby Ford Field. As well as The Condemned World Premiere the night before on March 30, 2007. Other live productions have included Sesame Street Live: Let's Be Friends, David Copperfield, Blue's Clues' Live! as well as show tours, such as Donny Osmond, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Dora The Explorer! Live, and in April 2007, Go! Diego! Live! with Liz Coscia, after Sesame Street Live productions, in 1998-2008.

Detroit Fact of the Week: 9/29/08--10/4/08

The Marriott at the Renaissance Center is the tallest hotel in North America. When it was built in 1977, it was the tallest hotel in the world.

Ford Auditorium and Black history

An open letter to Detroit

By Paul Lee

The following is excerpted from a proposal submitted to Detroit City Council member Jo Ann Watson and president Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr., on Sept. 12, 2008.

I learned from Mayor Kilpatrick’s resignation speech last week that the Henry and Edsel Ford Auditorium is scheduled to be demolished next month.

I was deeply grieved to hear this because, as you know, Ford Auditorium has played an important role in the history of Detroit. However, few Detroiters, and particularly our youth, are aware that it also played a special role in the history of African Americans.

A few examples among many follow:

Black History @ Ford Auditorium

1) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed 2,500 persons on “the new Negro of the South” as a guest speaker at the Delta Sigma Theta sorority’s annual national convention on Dec. 28, 1956.

This was exactly one week after the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the legal victory of the historic bus boycott at Montgomery, AL, led by Dr. King, which catapulted him to international fame.

2) Malcolm X addressed the First Annual Dignity Projection and Scholarship Awards ceremony at Ford Auditorium on Feb. 14, 1965, sponsored by the Afro-American Broadcasting and Recording Co., which was founded and headed by our dearly departed mentor, attorney and later Rev. Milton R. Henry.

Early that morning, Malcolm X’s home at Queens, NY, was firebombed by Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam (NOI), an attack that just missed incinerating Malcolm X, his wife and their six young daughters, including a six-month-old baby.

Nevertheless, Malcolm X decided to fulfill his commitment to his dear friend and traveled to Detroit. Unbeknownst to Malcolm X and Henry, the FBI was so concerned about this program appealing to African Americans that it initiated a “counterintelligence” (COINTEL) action to discourage the ceremony’s sponsors, which included the Hudson’s department store and the Chrysler and Ford motor companies, from supporting it.

The bureau’s efforts might have been partly responsible for the low turnout that evening, which Malcolm X commented on in his historic “Last Message” to Detroit, which Henry later released as a popular long-playing record.

A week later, Malcolm X was assassinated at Washington Heights, NY, by a NOI “special squad” from Newark, NJ.

3) The Citywide Citizens Action Committee (CCAC), a militant coalition of local black organizations that was formed in the wake of the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, hosted “African-Soul ‘68” at Ford Auditorium on Dec. 10, 1967.

The chairman of CCAC was Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman, then known as the Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr., the founder and pastor of Central United Church of Christ, soon to be renamed Shrine of the Black Madonna #1.

The program was organized by bookstore owner, griot and mwalimu Ed Vaughn, who advertised it as “A Mammoth Variety Show to Launch the Black Cultural Revolution.”

It featured many local artists, including the Jazz Nationalists with Michael Abbott; the Concept East Theatre, which included actors David Rambeau and James E. Wheeler, the nation’s leading authority on blacks in film, television and theatre; Motown saxophonist Thomas (Beans) Bowles; popular poet “Slick” Campbell (later Abdul Jalil); and the Central Church choir.

(Indeed, it was Vaughn, a member of Central Church and the chairman of its Black Heritage committee, who conceived of arranged for the painting of the 18-foot mural of a Black Madonna and child by Glanton Dowdell, which still graces the church’s chancel.)

“The Culture of Black people predates that of any other people,” Vaughn wrote in the handsome printed program. “Needless to say, our History and our Culture have been stolen from us, but we are regaining them. We must now increase this momentum with revolutionary Zest and Zeal.”

Sadly, black people in this city, like black people thruout the nation, seem to have little regard for our history.

This is graphically demonstrated in Detroit by the number of historic structures, including businesses, churches, auditoriums, theatres, etc., which are razed every week — with no regard to the possibility of memorializing the great and tragic story of black people in Detroit or they might be used to teach our youth about this — their — precious heritage.

I suppose that it’s too late to do anything about Ford Auditorium, but I would be privileged if you could arrange for me to address the Detroit City Council to speak about its history in reference to our people, using it as a “teachable moment” that might save other properties in future.

Connexions
If granted this opportunity, I would also like to highlight some interesting connexions re Malcolm X’s appearance, such as the following:

1) Malcolm X was picked up at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport by Milton and Richard B. Henry. Three years later, as Abiodun Gaidi and Imari Obadele, the brothers co-founded the Republic of New Africa (later Afrika, RNA).

2) Backstage in the green room with Malcolm X was Jaramogi Abebe.

3) Two carloads of NOI members drove down from Chicago to assassinate Malcolm X at Ford Auditorium. After the program’s organizer’s alerted the police to this threat, they asked the NOI members to sit in the balcony, where they could be monitored. When Malcolm X failed to appear on time (he was sleeping backstage after a doctor administered a sedative), the Muslims left.

4) The physician who gave Malcolm X a sedative was Dr. E. Warren Evans, the father of Wayne County Sheriff Warren C. Evans. Dr. Evans was a brother-in-law of Jaramogi Abebe, married to the latter’s sister Gladys.

5) Dr. Evans was advised as to the appropriate sedative and dosage by Dr. Louis J. Cleage, one of Jarmaogi Abebe’s brothers, who did so by phone from Idlewild, MI.

6) After Malcolm X’s talk, he was greeted by Mother Rosa Parks — their first and last meeting. I have her account of this, in which she states that she agreed with his position on self-defense.

7) Among those who reportedly volunteered to protect Malcolm X was General Baker, Jr., a member of UHURU, the radical Wayne State student group; the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), headed by Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford); and the Fox and Wolf Hunt Club.

The latter group took its name from a metaphor used by Malcolm X in his famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech delivered at King Solomon Baptist church on 14th Street on April 12, 1964. This speech was also recorded by Milton Henry and released as a LP.

Paul Lee is the director of Best Efforts, Inc. (BEI), a professional research and consulting service that specializes in the recovery, preservation and promotion of global black history and culture. He could be contacted at .

Hotel St. Regis Detroit

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of having lunch at the Hotel St. Regis in a restaurant called La Musiq and I must say the food was good. However the Hotel St. Regis is a diamond or a gold mine within the city of Detroit because it has so many attractions and on Thursday it has a live jazz concert from 5p.m.-9p.m. with drink specials within the restaurant. However with La Musiq within the St. Regis and the rooms of the St. Regis as well as the gorgeous, radiant and beautiful woman on staff. This is a premiere hotel with tons to offer to visitors and guests who patron the Hotel St. Regis . Now don't take my word for me but here are a couple of other things that the Hotel St. Regis website says about itself. (http://www.hotelstregisdetroit.com/)

Welcome to one of southeast Michigan's top hotels. In fact, few Detroit hotels can rightfully boast of a history as rich as ours. The Hotel St. Regis has played host to such diverse and notable travelers as Martin Luther King and Mick Jagger. Today that heritage of unequaled hospitality, comfort and privacy is newly burnished. Located in Detroit's New Center area, the Hotel is surrounded by prominent buildings including the Albert Kahn-designed Fisher Building, home of the Fisher Theatre; Cadillac Place, home to State of Michigan government offices; and the world-class medical facilities at Henry Ford Hospital.

Hotel St. Regis is just minutes from all the major downtown attractions including sports stadiums, casinos, COBO Convention Center, museums, theatres, nightlife and the busiest international border crossing for commerce in the world—to Canada.

125 stylish guestrooms and suites are located on five floors. Each room has been newly remodeled and features inviting color schemes, marble vanities and superior bedding.

Our signature restaurant, La Musique, a Cajun restaurant, serves an inspired menu in a hip and elegant room that features stage costumes and memorabilia from past Motown hit makers. The adjacent Lounge is a perfect place for cocktails and entertainment.

Through an exclusive arrangement, guests of Hotel St. Regis may also dine at some of Detroit's top restaurants and charge the meal to their room. With prior arrangement, you can dine at Sweet Georgia Brown, Seldom Blues, The Woodward Restaurant and Grill, The Cuisine Restaurant and Detroit Breakfast House.

Need a car? Our exclusive Stay and Drive program with Enterprise Car Rental saves our guests the hassle of charging their credit card countless times while traveling.

To make your stay at Hotel St. Regis memorable and complete, we offer concierge service, a library and business center as well as complimentary membership to a full-service fitness center just one block away. Dry cleaning services and full-service car wash are always available. Guests can also take advantage of complimentary high-speed wireless Internet service in throughout the hotel.

The Hotel is just three miles north of the Renaissance Center on the Detroit River, home to General Motors’ global headquarters, which is also Detroit's tallest building. Also nearby are the city's entertainment districts, sports stadiums and convention center. This is where you'll find Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers; Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions; Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings; plus three casinos—the MGM Grand, the MotorCity and Greektown casinos—and COBO Convention Center. Our Chief Concierge can secure the best available seating to any major sporting or musical event in the city.

Our immediate neighbors include a nationally renowned healthcare institute, Henry Ford Hospital, and all major state government offices are located across the street in Cadillac Place. We're connected by skywalk to the Fisher Theatre, Detroit's premier theatre for touring Broadway productions. Just a few blocks west of the hotel is where Motown was born. Visit Hitsville USA and the Motown Museum to see where it all began for such stars as Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and so many others.

The University Cultural District—Located just ½ mile from the Hotel is where you can tour world-famous institutions all within walking distance of one another including the Detroit Institute of Arts—the nation’s fifth-largest fine arts museum, The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History—the largest of its kind in the world, the Detroit Historical Museum and the New Detroit Science Center.

Detroit Fact of the Week

When Michigan became a state in 1837, Detroit was its capitol. The first state capitol buidling was located in what is today Capitol Park.

New Center Detroit

The New Center is a commercial district located in Detroit, Michigan, approximately three miles (5 km) north of the city's downtown, and one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center. The area is centered just west of the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard, and is approximately bounded by Virginia Park Historic District on the north, the Ford Freeway on the south, John R. on the east and the Lodge Freeway on the west.

The heart of the New Center was developed in the 1920s as a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories. Some historians believe that the New Center may be the original edge city—a sub-center remote from, but related to, a main urban core. The descriptor "New Center" derived its name from the New Center News, an automotive-focused free newspaper begun in 1933 that continues to operate under the name Detroit Auto Scene. From 1923 to 1996, General Motors maintained its world headquarters in the New Center (in what is now Cadillac Place) before relocating downtown to the Renaissance Center; before becoming a division of GM, Fisher Body was headquartered in the Fisher Building. Both Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building are National Historic Landmarks. In addition to the business/commercial district along Woodward and Grand Boulevard, the New Center includes mixed industrial and commercial areas in the southern section, and primarily residential areas to the north.

In 1891, Detroit mayor Hazen Pingree broke ground on the construction of Grand Boulevard, a ring road that wrapped around the city of Detroit. The Boulevard ran for 12 miles, curving from the Detroit River on the west to the river on the east and crossing Woodward Avenue at a point approximately 3 miles from downtown. The Boulevard was originally thought to represent the absolute limit of the city's expansion, although tremendous growth at the beginning of the 20th century quickly pushed the city limits far beyond Grand Boulevard.

In the 1890s, major railroad infrastructure known as the Milwaukee Junction was built just south of Grand Boulevard to facilitate industrial expansion in the city of Detroit. To take advantage of the rail line, industrial plants were built in this area on both sides of Woodward Avenue, with the automotive indistry prominently involved. Part of this area east of Woodward is now the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District, while the area west of Woodward and south of the railroad tracks is the New Amsterdam Historic District. Most notably, in 1904, Burroughs Adding Machine Company built a large factory on Third, and the following year Cadillac built an assembly plant just to the east of Burroughs.

Grand Boulevard, along its entire extent, was an attractive residential address at the beginning of the 20th century. This was also true in the area that was to become the New Center. At the turn of the century, a number of private homes were built along Grand Boulevard and in the neighborhoods to the north, notably including what is now the Virginia Park Historic District on the northern edge of the New Center. Interspersed in the area were small apartment buildings. Larger apartment buildings were constructed in the area in the 1920s to serve the population of workers and visitors to the area after larger office buildings had been built on Grand Boulevard.

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, the automobile industry in Detroit grew rapidly. The economic surge made land in downtown Detroit difficult to obtain. The lack of suitable parcels frustrated William C. Durant in his search for the optimum location for his planned General Motors headquarters. Durant looked to the north, and settled on a location just west of Woodward Avenue on Grand Boulevard. A the time, the area was a residential district of private homes and small apartment buildings.

Durant hired Albert Kahn (architect) to design his building, and ground was broken in 1919. The building was originally to be called the "Durant Building," but Durant left the company before the building was completed, so when it opened in 1922, the building was called the "General Motors Building." As General Motors continued to grow, the company required more space. In the later 1920s, they built a second building, the General Motors Resarch Laboratory (also known as the Argonaut Building), also designed by Kahn, directly south of their headquarters. THe building was built in two phases, and was completed in 1930.

Around the same time, the Fisher Brothers of Fisher Body followed General Motors to the area. They broke ground on their eponymous Fisher Building in 1927, located across Grand Boulevard from the General Motors Building. The Fisher Brothers also hired Kahn, and spared no expense to construct their headquarters building. The followed this up with the construction of New Center Building (now the Albert Kahn Building), completed in 1932. The Great Depression, however, forced the Fishers to break off their plans to construct a complex of buildings in the New Center, including a grandiose three-towered version of the Fisher building.

The New Center has had a strong retail section, primarily along the Woodward and Grand Boulevard corridors. Retail along Grand Boulevard developed with the construction of the General Motors and Fisher buildings. While these buildings were being built, there was a thriving retail presence along Woodward. A retail strip still exists south of Grand Boulevard along Woodward; some businesses in the district have existed at their current location since the 1920s.

Henry Ford Hospital has continued to expand. The hospital has built numberous additions to their campus since its inception by Henry Ford, from the Clara Ford Nursing Home in 1925 to their high-rise clinic in 1955 to hospital apartments in 1976. In 1992, Henry Ford purchased the old Burroughs headquarters to the south and renamed it One Ford Place. The building is now the Henry Ford Hospital corporate headquarters.

In 1967, the Hotel St. Regis was built on the north side of Grand Boulevard near General Motors' headquarters. In 1988, the hotel was doubled in size. In 1980, General Motors built another addition to the heart of the New Center, New Center One, located across Grand Boulevard from their headquarters. The new eight-story building housed retail stores, offices, and some divisions of General Motors.

In 1977, General Motors began refurbishing some of the residential neighborhoods north of Grand Boulevard. The result was the "New Center Commons," a collection of refurbished single-family homes on the north side of the New Center. With the revitalization of Virginia Park, the New Center has two distinct historic residential neighborhhods within its boundaries. General Motors also facilitated the rehabilitation of some multi-family dwellings. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, new townhomes and condominiums were constructed in what had been empty areas of the New Center, including a section along Woodward just north of Grand Boulevard. Additional loft renovation (as well as the TechTown research incubator) took place at the same time within the New Amsterdam Historic District.

The New Center served as a kind of corporate campus for GM for 70 years. However, the company left the area in the 1990s, moving their headquarters to the Renaissance Center downtown. The old General Motors Building -- Now Cadillac Place -- is occupied by the state of Michigan.

Currently, the New Center hosts the CityFest, a five-day street festival held around Independence Day.

The Guardian Building

The Guardian Building, designated a National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989, is a skyscraper in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Today, the building is owned by Wayne County, Michigan and serves as its headquarters. Built in 1928 and finished in 1929, the building was originally called the Union Trust Building and is a bold example of Art Deco architecture, including art moderne designs. At the top of the Guardian Building's spire, is a large American Flag, complementing the four smaller flags atop nearby 150 West Jefferson. The building has undergone recent award-winning renovations.

The main frame of the skyscraper rises 36 stories, capped by two asymmetric spires, one extending for four additional stories. The roof height is of the building is 496 ft (151 m), the top floor is 489 feet (149 m), and the spire reaches 632 ft (192.6 m). The exterior blends brickwork with tile, limestone, and terra cotta. The building's interior is lavishly decorated with mosaic and Pewabic and Rookwood tile. The semi-circular exterior domes are filled with Pewabic Pottery; Mary Chase Perry Stratton worked closely with the architect in the design of the symbolic decorations. (See Savage, infra.) Its nickname, Cathedral of Finance, alludes both to the building's resemblance to a cathedral, with its tower over the main entrance and octagonal apse at the opposite end and to New York City's Woolworth Building, which had earlier been dubbed the Cathedral of Commerce. Native American themes are common inside and outside the building. Wirt C. Rowland, of the Smith Hinchman & Grylls firm, was the building's architect while Corrado Parducci created the two sculptures flanking the Griswold Street entrance. The building includes works by muralist Ezra Winter. Roland's attention to detail was meticulous. He supervised the creation of bricks to achieve the desired color for the exterior and designed furniture for the bank's offices. His attention went as far as designing tableware, linens and waitress uniforms for a restaurant in the building.

Col. Frank Hecker and Michigan Senator James McMillan were both founders of the Union Trust which built the Guardian, nicknamed the Cathedral of Finance. During World War II, the Guardian Building served as the U.S Army Command Center for war time production with Detroit being called the Arsenal of Democracy. The Guardian served various tenants as an office building in downtown and was restored in 1986.

On July 18, 2007, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced it has entered into an agreement with current owners to purchase the Guardian Building to relocate its offices from the Wayne County Building. The deal is reportedly part of a larger deal worth $33.5 million in real estate purchases in downtown Detroit.

The Fisher Building

The Fisher Building (1928) is an ornate skyscraper in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan constructed of limestone, granite, and marble. Its roof was once adorned in gold which was removed for the air raid black outs during World War II. Designated a National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989, the building was designed to house the automotive company Fisher Body of the Fisher brothers (Frederick, Charles, William, Lawrence, Edward, Alfred and Howard).

Standing on the corner of West Grand Boulevard and Second Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, the Art Deco skyscraper lies in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit. The office building rises 30-stories with a roof height of 428 ft (130.5 m), a top floor height of 339 ft (103.6 m), and the spire reaching 444 ft (135 m). The building has 21 elevators. Designed by Albert Kahn and Associates with Joseph Nathaniel French as chief architect, it has been called Detroit's largest art object. and is widely considered Kahn's greatest achievement. The year of its construction, the Fisher building was honored by the Architectural League of New York as the year's most beautiful commercial structure. The opulent three-story barrel vaulted lobby is constructed with forty different kinds of marble, decorated by Hungarian artist Géza Maróti, and is highly regarded by architects.

Initially, Kahn planned for a complex of three buildings, with two 30-story structures flanking a third tower twice that height. However, the Great Depression kept the project at one tower.
The Fisher brothers constructed the building across from the General Motors Building (Now Cadillac Place). General Motors had recently purchased the Fisher Body Company. The two massive buildings spurred the development of a New Center for the city, a business district north of its downtown area.

Radio
The top of the building was gilt and topped with a radio antenna. One of the building's oldest tenants is radio station WJR, whose broadcasters often mention that their signals are broadcast "from the golden tower of the Fisher Building." Two other radio stations, WDVD-FM and WDRQ-FM, also broadcast from the building. On St. Patrick's Day, the golden tower is lit up with green light to celebrate the holiday instead of the traditional orange color. In recent years, to celebrate the NHL playoffs, the tower is lit with red light in honor of the Detroit Red Wings.

Theatre
The building also is home to the Fisher Theatre, one of Detroit's oldest live theatre venues. The theatre originally featured a lavish Aztec-themed interior in the Mayan Revival style, and once had Mexican-Indian art and banana trees and live macaws that its patrons could feed. After the Depression, the theatre operated primarily as a movie house until 1961. Originally with 3,500 seats, the interior was renovated with a 2,089-seat theatre that allowed for more spacious seating for patrons. The decor was changed to a more simple mid-century design (which some feel is now far more "dated" in appearance than the grandiose art deco foyer). The Fisher Theatre is owned and operated by the Nederlander Organization and now primarily features travelling productions of Broadway shows.

Art
Befitting to the Fisher Building's history in association with art, there have been three nationally recognized Fine Art Galleries that have been located in the structure including the Gertrude Kasle Gallery and London Fine Arts Group.

Gertrude Kasle Gallery: Located in Suite 310 of the Fisher Building from 1965-1976 was a nationally recognized Fine Art Gallery hosting exhibits for some of the most highly respected artists of the second half of the 20th century including Willem de Kooning, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Goodnough, Adolph Gottlieb, Phillip Guston, Grace Hartigan, Ian Hornak, Ray Johnson, Robert Motherwell, Lowell Nesbitt, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and Jack Tworkov.

London Arts Group: Located in a large portion of the third floor of the Fisher Building during the 1970’s and 1980’s, London Fine Arts Group acted as an internationally recognized publishing company assisting in producing limited edition art works for many internationally recognized artists including Yaacov Agam, Karel Appel, Arman, Romare Bearden, Gene Davis, Don Eddy, Alberto Giacometti, Ian Hornak, Lester Johnson,Alex Katz, Richard Lindner, Roberto Matta, Lowell Nesbitt, Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Sultan, Victor Vasarely and Larry Zox.

Cadillac Tower, Cadillac Place, or Cadillac Building

For the downtown Detroit, Michigan office tower known as "Cadillac Tower", see Cadillac Tower.
"General Motors Building" redirects here, for the office tower in New York City with that name, see General Motors Building (New York).

Cadillac Place is an ornate high-rise office building in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan constructed of limestone, granite, and marble. Originally the General Motors Building, it had housed the company's world headquarters from 1923 until 1996. In 1996, GM moved its world headquarters to the Renaissance Center and sold the magnificent building which is leased by the State of Michigan on a long term basis. The building was renamed Cadillac Place. The building takes its present name from Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, the founder of Detroit.

Cadillac Place rises 15 stories with the roof height at 220 ft (67.1 m), and the top floor at 187 ft (57 m). The building has 31 elevators. Originally constructed with 1,200,000 square feet (111,000 m2), and was expanded to 1,395,000 square feet (129,600 m2). Designated a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978 it is an exquisite example of Neo-Classical architecture.
Designed by noted architect Albert Kahn, each of the four parallel 15-story wings connects to a central perpendicular backbone. Kahn used this design to allow sunlight and natural ventilation to reach each of the building's hundreds of individual offices. The stately structure is crowned with Corinthian colonnades. In 1923, it opened as the second largest office building in the world (behind the Equitable Building in New York City).

In 2002, the building was thoroughly renovated for the State of Michigan and renamed it Cadillac Place. Architect Eric J. Hill participated in the 2002 redevelopment. Cadillac Place currently houses over 2,000 state employees including the Michigan Court of Appeals for District I. The building's executive office serves as the Detroit office for Michigan's governor. It houses State offices for the Detroit area and a State Court of Appeals. Directly across from the Fisher Building to which it is connected by an underground pedestrian tunnel. Cadillac Place constitutes a formidable complex. The Detroit St. Regis Hotel adjoins the Fisher Building across from Cadillac Place.