- For the Fisher Building in Chicago, see Fisher Building (Chicago)
The Fisher Building is 20-story, neo-Gothic landmark building located at 343 South Dearborn Street in the Chicago Loop community area of Chicago. Commissioned by paper magnate Lucius Fisher, the original building was completed in 1896 by D.H. Burnham & Company with an addition latter added in...
.
The
Fisher Building (1928) is an ornate
Art DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
skyscraper located on the corner of West Grand Boulevard and Second Avenue in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit,
MichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. It is constructed of
limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
,
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, and several types of
marbleMarble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, and was financed by the Fisher family with proceeds from the sale of
Fisher BodyFisher Body is an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan; it is now an operating division of General Motors Company...
to
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
. It was designed to house office and retail space.
The building, which contains the 2,089 seat Fisher Theatre, was designated a
National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989. It is also the location of the headquarters for the
Detroit Public SchoolsDetroit Public Schools is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The student population of the Detroit Public Schools is about 65,971 , which is down about 9.7% from the previous school year. Detroit Public Charter Schools educate an additional 56,000...
.
__toc__
History
Initially, architect
Joseph Nathaniel FrenchJoseph Nathaniel French, Sr. was an architect with Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. from 1914 to 1967. He was the chief architect for the Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:...
of Albert Kahn Associates planned for a complex of three buildings, with two 30-story structures flanking a 60-story tower. However, the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
kept the project at one tower.
The Fisher brothers located the building across from the General Motors Building, now
Cadillac PlaceCadillac Place is an ornate high-rise class-A office complex in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan constructed of steel, limestone, granite, and marble between 1919 and 1923 and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The building houses several agencies of the State of Michigan...
, as General Motors recently purchased the
Fisher BodyFisher Body is an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan; it is now an operating division of General Motors Company...
Company. The two massive buildings spurred the development of a New Center for the city, a business district north of its downtown area.
The building's
golden tower was originally covered with gold-gilded tiles, but these were removed during World War II due to fears they could become a beacon for enemy bombers. They were replaced with green terra cotta tiles which, since the 1980s, have been illuminated at night with colored lights to give them a gold appearance. On St. Patrick's Day, the lights are changed to green and, in recent years, to celebrate the
NHLThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
playoffs, the tower is illuminated with red lights in honor of the
Detroit Red WingsThe Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
.
In 1974, the Fisher Building and adjoining New Center Building were purchased by Tri-Star Development for approximately $20 million.
Architecture
The Fisher Building rises 30-stories with a roof height of 428 feet (130.5 m), a top floor height of 339 feet (103.3 m), and the spire reaching 444 feet (135.3 m). The building has 21 elevators. Designed by Albert Kahn and Associates with
Joseph Nathaniel FrenchJoseph Nathaniel French, Sr. was an architect with Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. from 1914 to 1967. He was the chief architect for the Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:...
as chief architect, it has been called
Detroit's largest art object and is widely considered Kahn's greatest achievement.
In 1929, the Fisher Building was honored by the
Architectural League of New YorkThe Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines"....
with a silver medal in architecture. The opulent three-story
barrel vaultA barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...
ed lobby is constructed with forty different kinds of marble, decorated by Hungarian artist
Géza MarótiGéza Maróti was a Hungarian architect, sculptor, painter, and applied artist.Maroti was from a rural merchant family and began his career as a woodcarver but later went on to complete studies in Budapest and Vienna...
, and is highly regarded by architects. The sculpture on the exterior of the building was supplied by several sculptors including Maroti,
Corrado ParducciCorrado Giuseppe Parducci was an Italian-American architectural sculptor who was a celebrated artist for his numerous early 20th Century works.-Early life and education:...
, Anthony De Lorenzo and
Ulysses RicciUlysses Ricci was an American sculptor known primarily for his architectural sculpture. Born in New York City, Ricci was an apprentice at the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Works in New Jersey from 1902 to 1906. He studied at Cooper Union Institute and at the Art Students League with James Earle...
.
Radio
Designs called for two flagpoles atop the gilt roof. While they were installed, they were essentially unusable as a radio antenna was installed when one of the building's oldest tenants, radio station
WJRWJR is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It broadcasts a news/talk format. It is a class A clear channel station whose broadcasts can be heard throughout most of the Midwest, eastern United States and Canada at night, making it one of the most powerful radio stations in the...
, leased space in December 1928. On-air hosts often mention that broadcasts originate "from the golden tower of the Fisher Building." This was a requirement of the station's original lease in exchange for a nominal rent. Two other radio stations,
WDVDWDVD is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Detroit, Michigan, broadcasting at 96.3 MHz on the FM dial. WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building near downtown Detroit. WDVD's transmitter is located in Oakland County in Royal Oak Township at 8 Mile Road and Wyoming Avenue...
-FM and
WDRQWDRQ is an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan. The station is branded as 93.1 Doug FM. Doug FM broadcasts from the Fisher Building just north of downtown Detroit and transmits its signal from an antenna 669 feet in length located at the intersection of Ten Mile and Greenfield Roads in suburban...
-FM, also broadcast from the building.
In 1970, building employees discovered a storage room sealed with tape. None of the staff knew what the room contained or why it was sealed. When they located the key, the found the flags of 75 nations that apparently were created in 1928 and intended to be flown for foreign visitors.
Fisher Theatre
The building also is home to the Fisher Theatre, one of Detroit's oldest live theatre venues. The theatre originally featured a lavish
AztecThe Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
-themed interior in the Mayan Revival style, and once had Mexican-Indian art,
bananaBanana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
trees and live
macawMacaws are small to large, often colourful New World parrots. Of the many different Psittacidae genera, six are classified as macaws: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, and Diopsittaca...
s that its patrons could feed. After the Depression, the theatre operated primarily as a movie house until 1961. Originally containing 3,500 seats, the interior was renovated into a 2,089-seat playhouse that allowed for more spacious seating and lobbies for patrons at a cost of $3,500,000. The decor was changed to a simple mid-century design (which some feel is now far more "dated" in appearance than the grandiose art deco foyer). The
New Fisher Theatre opened October 2, 1961 and is owned and operated by the
Nederlander OrganizationThe Nederlander Organization, founded in 1912 by David T. Nederlander and based in Detroit, Michigan, is one of the largest operators of legitimate theatres and music venuesin the United States. Its first acquisition was a lease on the Detroit Opera House in 1912. The building was demolished in...
. It primarily features travelling productions of
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
shows and has hosted the premieres of
Hello, Dolly!Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
,
Fiddler on the RoofFiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
and
Golden BoyGolden Boy is a musical with a book by Clifford Odets and William Gibson, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.Based on the 1937 play of the same name by Odets, it focuses on Joe Wellington, a young man from Harlem who, despite his family's objections, turns to prizefighting as a means...
.
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 GalleryThe Gertrude Kasle Gallery opened in 1965 in Detroit, USA. It operated for eleven years, displaying American contemporary art.- History :The founder of the Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Gertrude Kasle, was born in New York City on December 2, 1917, and began her life-long career in the art world very...
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
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
, Jim DineJim Dine is an American pop artist. He is sometimes considered to be a part of the Neo-Dada movement. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended Walnut Hills High School, the University of Cincinnati, and received a BFA from Ohio University in 1957. He first earned respect in the art world with...
, Helen FrankenthalerHelen Frankenthaler is an American abstract expressionist painter. She is a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work in six decades she has spanned several generations of abstract painters while continuing to produce vital and ever-changing new work...
, Robert Goodnough, Adolph GottliebAdolph Gottlieb was an American abstract expressionist painter, sculptor and graphic artist.-Biography:Gottlieb was born in New York to Jewish parents. From 1920-1921 he studied at the Art Students League of New York, after which he traveled in France and Germany for a year...
, Phillip Guston, Grace HartiganGrace Hartigan was an American Abstract Expressionist painter of the New York School in the 1950s.-Biography and early career:...
, Ian HornakIan Hornak was an American draughtsman, painter and printmaker associated with the Hyperrealist and Photorealist art movements.-Biography:...
, Ray JohnsonRaymond Edward Johnson , known primarily as a collagist and correspondence artist, was a seminal figure in the history of Neo-Dada and early Pop art...
, Robert MotherwellRobert Motherwell American painter, printmaker and editor. He was one of the youngest of the New York School , which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston....
, Lowell Nesbitt, Claes OldenburgClaes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
, Robert RauschenbergRobert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
and Jack TworkovJack Tworkov was a Polish born American abstract expressionist painter.He was born in Biała Podlaska, Russian Empire and immigrated to the United States in 1913 with his mother and younger sister who would later become known as Janice Biala...
.
- London Arts Group: Located in a large portion of the third floor of the Fisher Building during the 1970s and 1980s, 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
Yaacov Agam is an Israeli sculptor and experimental artist best known for his contributions to optical and kinetic art.-Biography:Yaakov Agam was born Yaakov Gipstein on May 11, 1928, in Rishon LeZion, then Mandate Palestine...
, Karel AppelChristiaan Karel Appel was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s...
, ArmanArman was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Pierre Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman is a painter who moved from using the objects as paintbrushes to using them as the painting itself...
, Romare BeardenRomare Bearden was an African American artist and writer. He worked in several media including cartoons, oils, and collage.-Education:...
, Gene DavisGene or Eugene Davis may refer to:*Gene Davis , US painter, from Washington, DC*Gene Davis , born Eugene M. Davis, US actor*Gene Davis , American Olympic wrestler...
, Don EddyDon Eddy is an American painter who gained initial fame as a photorealist; but his recent works have veered into the realm of metaphysics.In the 1970s, Eddy's works paid homage to cars and the urban cityscape...
, Alberto GiacomettiAlberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
, Ian HornakIan Hornak was an American draughtsman, painter and printmaker associated with the Hyperrealist and Photorealist art movements.-Biography:...
, Lester JohnsonLester Roland Johnson was a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin.-Biography:Born in Brandon, Wisconsin, Johnson attended the public schools and Lawrence University from 1919 to 1921....
, Alex KatzAlex Katz is an American figurative artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints and is represented by numerous galleries internationally.-Life and work:...
, Richard LindnerRichard Lindner was a German-American painter.- Biography :Richard Lindner was born in Hamburg. His mother Mina Lindner was American and born in New York as daughter of German parents...
, Roberto MattaRoberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren , better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art....
, Lowell Nesbitt, Robert RauschenbergRobert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
, Donald SultanDonald Sultan is an American artist, known for large-scale still life paintings executed with bold contrasts of bright color and deep black forms, tight, nearly abstract compositions, and unorthodox media....
, Victor VasarelyVictor Vasarely was a Hungarian French artist whose work is generally seen aligned with Op-art.His work entitled Zebra, created by Vasarely in the 1930s, is considered by some to be one of the earliest examples of Op-art...
and Larry ZoxLawrence "Larry" Zox was an American painter and printmaker who is classified as an Abstract expressionist, Color Field painter and a Lyrical Abstractionist, although he did not readily use those categories for his work....
.
See also
- Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
- Cadillac Place
Cadillac Place is an ornate high-rise class-A office complex in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan constructed of steel, limestone, granite, and marble between 1919 and 1923 and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The building houses several agencies of the State of Michigan...
- Guardian Building
The Guardian Building is a skyscraper at 500 Griswold Street in the downtown of the city of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, in the United States of America. The Guardian is a class-A office building owned by Wayne County, Michigan and serves as its headquarters...
- New Center Building
The New Center Building is an office building located at 7430 Second Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It is currently known as the Albert Kahn Building...
- New Center, Detroit
The New Center is a significant commercial and residential historic district located in Detroit, Michigan, adjacent to Midtown, one mile north of the Cultural Center, and approximately three miles north of Downtown...
- Pewabic Pottery
Pewabic Pottery is a studio and school located in Detroit, Michigan and founded in 1903. The studio is known for its iridescent glazes, some of which grace notable buildings such as the Shedd Aquarium and Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Pewabic Pottery is on display...
External links