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Old Posted Nov 17, 2010, 2:02 PM
gsgeorge gsgeorge is offline
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Location: Detroit / Ann Arbor - MICHIGAN
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Amphitheater to replace an eyesore
Detroit to raze old Ford Auditorium

http://www.freep.com/article/2010111...ace-an-eyesore

Quote:

By STEVE NEAVLING
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Ford Auditorium, once home to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and a destination for pop music concerts, famous speeches and theatrical productions, is expected to be demolished as early as May.

City officials hope the demolition of the vacant downtown waterfront venue on Hart Plaza will make way for a 5,000-seat amphitheater with a sprawling lawn.

"This is a symbol, in many ways, of blight in the city," Dan Lijana, spokesman for Mayor Dave Bing, said of the auditorium. "The mayor has been very clear that he is committed to having people see and feel the progress in the city."

Built in 1955, the auditorium was revered for its state-of-the-art recording system, but bad acoustics dogged it from its opening.

Finally, in 1989, the DSO returned to its former home, Orchestra Hall, because musicians couldn't hear one another on stage at the Ford Auditorium.

The venue closed in 1990.

Retired DSO bassoonist Paul Ganson, the orchestra's historian, said the auditorium deserves its reputation for poor acoustics.

It was simply too big and the wrong shape for an orchestra, he said.

"It was built as a multipurpose auditorium with a wide-band shape, which is opposite the traditional shoe-box setting that's considered ideal," said Ganson, who noted that the building functioned well for many other civic purposes.

Among the most famous speeches delivered there was one by Malcolm X in 1965. It was his last public address outside New York before his death.

Questions remain about what treasures are inside. An Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ installed in 1957 for $100,000 is believed to be collecting dust, according to the Detroit chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

"They need to save that," said Carolyn Thibideau, a member of the guild who says she was the last person to play the organ.

Recognizing the auditorium's historic significance, Lijana said that the city plans to salvage as many of the auditorium's interior gems as possible.

By the end of the month, the city expects to begin accepting bids for demolition. The cost is unknown, but the city plans to use existing federal funds to pay for demolition.
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