Drury Lane Theatre

The Drury Lane Theatre was a short-lived, new-build silent movie house in downtown Detroit within the newly constructed Morris Friedman Building. It was built during the first wave of movie palaces during World War I. The Drury Lane Theatre fitted the mold of a movie palace in many respects. It had architect Charles Howard Crane furnishing a nice Adam inspired interior. The theatre featured the Cadillac of pipe organs with its new, $10,000 Wurlitzer. The theater was constructed in an extremely busy part of the central business district and directly opposite of the new, incredible David Whitney skyscraper bringing more foot traffic to the corner than at any time in Detroit’s history.

Also in the Drury Lane Theatre’s lineage was ten-year theatre veteran Frank D. Drew who not only lended his talent from the Avenue Theatre dating back to 1905 but was also a co-founder of Detroit Universal Film Co. Even the venue’s name was also a play on Drew’s last name – the Drury Lane. But there was something odd about the run-up to the theatre which questioned its viability. The theatre was across the street not only from the Whitney skyscraper but also its ill-fated, Hippodrome Theatre that lasted about a year opening in 1912 and closing in 1913. That theatre’s inception was based on people investing in what turned out to be worthless stock. Not cool. Here, Drew followed the same model asking people to invest in stock for the Drury Lane Company.

Given the theatre’s total lack of programming policy – other than it would be a dime for admission – and the theatre’s era-questionable diminutive size of just 550 seats, this looked to be a high risk / low reward investment. And that turned out to be the case. But give Drew credit for trying. The theatre had a 30-year leasing agreement at $25,000 – that’s a lot of dimes to make up. The Drury Lane Theatre opened on a grind policy from 9am to 11pm on July 21, 1916 with Louise Lloyd in “What Happened at 22?” and Ben Turpin’s comedy short, “The Deep Sea Liar". By all accounts, Drew exited after one year at the Drury Lane Theatre and went off to greener pastures with theatre buys in Detroit and Canada before working for Fox.

The building housing the Drury Lane Theatre, the aforementioned Morris Friedberg Building, was constructed by Malow Bros. Contractors in 1915 and opened in 1916. (The previous building had reached the end of its lease and was demolished on April 1, 1915 taking a 19th Century instituted Edison phonograph dealer with it.) The Friedberg Building was quite substantive - though dwarfed by the Whitney Building. Architects Rogers, Bonnah & Chafee (James S. Rogers, Harrie W. Bonnah, and Walter C. Chaffee’s exterior sketch is in photos) designed the International Styled six-floor sturdy multipurpose building with reinforced concrete and terra cotta front. St. John’s Arbor restaurant, a small post office, Grinnell Bros. Music, The Russel Co., and Friedberg’s Jewelers were among the first occupants joining the Drury Lane Theatre.

The Drury Lane Theatre identified only two competing movie houses in the Campus Theatre and Grand Circus Theatre. But its programming policy leaned on exploitation films and lesser films as Drew struggled to find an audience before failing. It found a new manager and programmer in Hal W. Smith coming from the Kunsky Circuit in 1917 and he seemed to breath life into the operation immediately. But the opening of both the Adams Theatre and Madison Theatre with three times the capacity and established movie circuits behind them made life impossible for undersized theatres like the Drury Lane Theatre. Movie studios liked their opening films playing in the large, A-theaters. The Drury Lane Theatre was anything but; however, it made it to June of 1922 before closing. The Russel Company refreshed the entire taking over the Drury Lane Theatre spot. The entire space was converted to an arcade in 1923 which, by all accounts, was a pretty cool transition.

The building housing the former Drury Lane Theatre lost its original address and its original look. In 1921, the street was completely renumbered from 250 / 256 Woodward Avenue to, in January of 1921, to 1528–1534 Woodward Avenue. Then the Friedberg Building lost its historical significance (and name) in two era-appropriate yet heartbreaking updates in 1938 and 1960.

The Friedberg Building became Streamline Moderne style in 1938 as the Rollins Company Building with a deco refresh to the outside (and inside) opening there on March 25, 1938 on a 20-year leasing agreement. The deco Telenews Theatre, another Charles Howard Crane designed venue, was added to the left of the building in 1942 so that folks could get instant film footage of the War efforts - or as close to instant as you could get. (It has its own Cinema Treasures entry). Rollins ceased operations with an auction on February 20, 1958. After that auction, the S.S. Kresge Foundation - which had roosted in the building’s upper floors - donated the entire building to the United Foundation rent-free.

The United Foundation gave the building a decidedly, mid-century makeover and third name (or fourth if you count Cunningham Drugs the early-1930’s) at a total cost of $455,000 that took most of 1960. That remodeling was designed by architects Diehl & Diehl. George F. and Gerald G. Diehl designed many mid-century Detroit refresh projects and new-build structures.

Suffice to say that the Friedberg/Rollins/UF Building’s purposes as a historically significant building were severely compromised in the two major refreshes; when Detroit underwent a major pruning in redevelopment(s), the UF Building would be a top-tier expendable candidate. As the historically significant Detroit buildings fell left and right, of course, the United Foundation Building - and former Drury Theater location - stood firm opposite the Whitney Building into the 2020’s and likely beyond.

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