"The age of specialists, when the wonder projects of the world are the handiwork of only a few master minds, we find that the realm of theatrical architecture, too, is dominated by a handful of outstanding figures, among them C. Howard Crane."  (Opening Program)

Throughout the theatre-building boom of the 1920s the architectural practice of C. Howard Crane thrived, overseeing 250 designs from the drawing board to their appointed openings. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Crane made Detroit his home from 1908 until the onset of the Depression, when he moved to London. Before he left Detroit, he built 52 theatres in that city alone.

Along with his peers, Thomas W. Lamb and the Rapp Brothers, Crane began his picture palace career using styles firmly rooted in the classical European tradition. He designed a magnificent theatre for Fox in Brooklyn and enjoyed a string of commissions for the Unite Artists chain in Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles where he employed a style affectionately known as "Picture Palace Gothic." Such mid-career gems as the Palms and The Grand Circus (both in Detroit) show Crane beginning to mix movie glitz with Old World elegance.

The final departure from his earlier designs were his twin Siamese Byzantine masterpieces built in St. Louis and Detroit for William Fox. When finished in 1929, reporters noted that the new Fox theatres were "...awe-inspiring fashioned after Hindoo Mosques of Old India, bewildering in their richness and dazzling in their appointments...striking a note that reverberated around the architectural and theatrical worlds."

Next... Building The Fox