The first building from the Circle of Blight I wanted to get inside actually counts as a pair. First the Adams Theatre, and second, the attached Fine Arts building. Appropriately located in Grand Circus Park, the heart of what used to be downtown’s theatre and entertainment district. The Adams opened in 1917 and seated 1,770 patrons among three levels. Originally built as an auditorium, the Adams is equipped with a stage and all of the rigging for a live show or play. After only a couple of years in operation the theater was converted to screen silent films. Then, as movie technology continued to evolve, the Adams was continuously upgraded with better technology through the 1950s. In 1963 the theatre was sold, and the new owners began screening pornographic films until they closed in the mid 1980s. In 1988 the theatre was again renovated into a triplex in hopes of drawing a respectable crowd.  
     
  The Adams’ architecture is uncommon for Detroit’s downtown. Its main entrance is on the front of the Fine Arts Building facing Grand Circus Park. In order to make way to the upper balconies of the theatre, you had to go up a level in the Fine Arts Building, and then walk across a bridge spanning the back alley. There is also another option to make way to the main level of the theatre. By descending down a ramp that leads into the basement, you can then travel through a tunnel beneath the alley to make entry. The theatre is technically located on Elizabeth Street, sitting back to back with the Fine Arts Building. The Adams was designed this way because the property was much cheaper on Elizabeth Street at the time of construction. The Fine Arts building, a seven-story office building that has fallen into disrepair; it was in place well before the Adams Theater’s construction was completed in 1905. The Fine Arts building clearly needs to be demolished.
   

 
I was only able to access the theatre because there was already an opening, possibly from scrappers or another exploration crew. It was easy to get into like so many other buildings around the city. Usually if you do a bit of scouting an entrance will almost always present itself. Once I was inside, I found myself standing in front of a staircase located near the rear of the auditorium. It was very dark inside because the theatre doesn’t have windows. I went through an adjacent door and entered the ground floor of the three-level theatre. I was amazed to see that all the seats were still intact… well, covered in tons fallen plaster, debris, dirt, and water… but more or less intact. There were still traces of the once ornate plasterwork that water had not yet deteriorated.  
     
 

The theatre had been divided into three separate movie theatres in 1986. The bottom level was the largest. It had a projector screen rigged up on a stage where musicals and plays were once performed in the earlier years. The stage has now rotted to the point that there are gaping holes in it, no doubt to the fact that the roof is nearly halfway gone, allowing the elements inside. In fact the only light inside was coming in through the holes in the roof. The stage was so soft and un-sturdy that I did not have enough confidence to walk across it. I could see that the basement pit underneath was filled with rank smelly water. Still back stage and around the corner was a set of stairs that leads to a series of storage and dressing rooms. The debris in these rooms consists of rusted folding chairs and old red letters once used for the marquee. The stairs are now covered in the remains of the walls that once surrounded the aging staircase. With nothing left to hold on to, this climb was extremely dangerous. But that's never stopped me before.

     
 
     
The upper balconies were split into two side-by-side theatres. The drywall is partially finished from the last renovation attempt. The seats upstairs were in much better condition than the lower floors. Possibility replaced in the 1986 renovation, or another failed attempt at renovation. The final closing of the Adams Theater followed a series of shootings. In October of 1988, a 20-year-old man was shot to death during a screening of Run-DMC’s feature “Tougher Than Leather.” The theatre shut down for two weeks before reopening. Then again in November of that year, a 16 and 17–year-old were shot when another 16 year old went on a shooting rampage. The theatre closed, never to reopen. The owners left behind everything from the seats, screens, projectors, soda fountains, and popcorn machines. Even old 50-cent ticket stubs litter the floor.  
     
  After searching the basement and the main entrance to the theatre, it seemed like we were not going to make access to the Fine Arts building because the buildings are not interconnected to each other in the lobby. They actually have separate front doors on Adams Street that are tightly boarded up. I decided to chill out and smoke a cigar for a minute when the idea came to me that we might be able to go across the roof of the bridge. The upper balconies had emergency exits that lead to where once existing exterior stairs and fire escapes were attached outside. One of these doors led to the top of the bridge that connects the Adams to the Fine Arts. The alley below was virtually deserted, so we decided to make a quick dash across to an open window. The rear of the Fine Arts is separated from the main part of the building by a small second floor courtyard with skylights above the lobby. The back section is only three or four floors, but the front section on Adams Street is seven floors.
     

Because the building is so old, having been built in 1905, it has no elevators. It only has one set of stairs for each vertical section of the building. Clearly it had been built before fire and safety codes were put in place; this structure is a death trap. Because we entered onto the third floor, we first went down to the lobby to start exploring. While searching for the stairs, we made an amazing discovery. We figured out why the roof was sagging in the center. This sag can be seen from the roof of any building in the area. Approximately a 20’ x 10’ section had collapsed from the top floor, all the way down through each floor. This had left a pile of debris in the main lobby. This damage may be from scrappers removing steel, or just the fact that this is a 102-year old abandoned building. Regardless, I found myself in an extremely dangerous building.

The lobby wreaks of old Detroit. Parts of the floor are even paved with the same bricks that you can still see on Michigan Avenue in Corktown. There is a bar in excellent condition, and a French Bistro with the Eiffel Tower painted on the wall outside. There is also a large fireplace and an elevated lounge. The ground floor was once used as a dance hall, but it seems given some of the décor, it may have been converted into a nightclub at some point. It was very eerie; it reminded me of the mock up of old Detroit in the basement of the Detroit Historical Museum. I’m not too sure on the details of the closing, but judging from its condition and the fact that it has no elevator, it has likely been closed for at least 25 years. 		 
     
 
     
After leaving the lobby, we made our way back up the stairs with the intention of looking through the office space and relaxing for a bit on the roof. We soon realized that access to the roof was limited because the section of the building that collapsed blocked the exits from the stairwell. Floor after floor dropped off sharply, each cliff leading to the lobby below where a massive pile of debris had accumulated over the years. It was at this point that I was certain that there would be no renovating this building. The only question in my mind is whether it will completely fall down, or will it be torn down.  
     
  There was not too much to see in the offices we did go through. Just mostly waste left from the buildings decomposition. On the top level there was some flooring still left, but what was left did not look too strong. I grabbed on to an overhead support beam and tested a bit of my weight on the thin transparent floor. I realized that there was no way it would hold me. We grabbed some boards and made a bridge over the cavity before we proceeded over some flimsy steps to make our way to the roof. Once we reached the roof, we observed at least a dozen large holes forcing us to keep near the stronger edge of the building.
     

It was very refreshing to make it to fresh air from the roof that offers a great view across Grand Circus Park. In fact, the park itself is the nicest thing here, even if it is filled with smelly bums and crack heads. From here you can see a few things in the Grand Circus Park that are occupied: the Opera House, the Kales, and a sports bar. We had been wearing respirators because these buildings are filled with lead paint, mold, asbestos, and who knows what else. All I know is they posses the unmistakable smell of a decomposing building. I would usually like to stay for sunset, but on this building I though it might be better to exit with a bit of light. It was time to make a careful decent back down to the ground floor of the theatre.