Designed by the famed architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp, the Birmingham opened in 1927.
It was built for the Kunsky circuit, who opened two
other nearby theaters that same year, the Redford and the Royal Oak. The
theater’s construction was delayed over a year because of the widening
of Woodward Avenue. Like most of the Rapp’s theaters, it was designed
originally in the style of the French Renaissance, and sat over 1,250 in
its auditorium.
It once contained a Barton organ and featured vaudeville in addition to movies.
By the 1960’s, it was showing second-run fare, and when
it was purchased by the United Detroit Theatres chain later in that
decade, it was given a drastic modernization inside, ridding it of all
traces of the original decor, though its facade remained intact.
In the 1970’s, it was acquired by the Plitt chain. Later in the 1970’s, the Birmingham Development Company
took over operation of the theater, and remodeled it at a cost of
$750,000 adding new seats, curtains, lighting and sound equipment to
feature live stage shows in addition to continuing to screen movies.
In 1979, the Birmingham was leased to the Nederlander
Theatrical Corporation and Broadway productions were staged there for
several years.
In the late-1980’s, the Birmingham was carved up into eight small screens and returned to showing first-run features.
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