The 18-story structure doesn’t look like much from the outside, at least now it doesn’t. Back in the 30s and 40s the building was adorned with a 10-story vertical marquee. It was removed in the 1950s and the another marquee over the main entrance was removed before the Super Bowl in 2006, due to fears that it may fall off the building entirely. Until that point Aztec styled graffiti had also covered virtually every single window of the tower. The work was done by a Detroit-based syndicate who call themselves “The Dead House Painters,” In an ironic twist, the entire interior of the theater is also Aztec-themed – a point not lost on this explorer. Workers from the Illich Co. toiled for days to scrape back the colorful designs on the windows, as if the artwork was escaping from the theater like a spirit now being put back into place. What this building lacks in stateliness on the outside it makes up with elaborate designs and impressive beauty inside.

It was a late summer morning a few years back when the opportunity to explore the United Artist presented itself. The muggy weekend morning was just about as perfect an opportunity as one gets. Since it was a Sunday, the civic center was virtually a ghost town. The Tigers were on the road, Hart Plaza was quiet and Campus Martius was nearly empty. A light on and off rain had kept most of the local vagrants out of the nearby park and as we debated our next move, a completely empty people mover passed me overhead. It was like a big banner saying, “c’mon... no one’s watching”! We took this brief period of inactivity to scurry over the fence, which was conveniently covered with black mesh, making it almost impossible to be seen behind. Calmly and confidently we sat down on the cement flower planter that was backed up against the door. We took a careful look around once again and then we made our way inside. There’s always some type of rush when entering the unknown. You don’t have a clue what’s on the other side of that door. You just have to be prepared to deal with anything.

Once inside we found the lobby like many lobbies of that era. Shiny aluminum art-deco elevator doors made to look like silver were recessed deep into exquisite white marble, which covered the floor and walls. The ceiling, which was an orange color was stamped tin molded into an ornate pattern accented with red and green paint. Small holes dotted the ceiling; likely where lighting fixtures and wiring were once carelessly ripped from. Debris and other garbage from the last tenants still lay strewn about.

Scrappers had decimated the plumbing and electrical lines in the building during the twenty years it was idle. Recently a grid of yellow extension cables was erected running along the lower floor to light up walkways and the theater. Besides minor work like the windows being scraped clean, and a new roof, partial restoration of some of the plaster and sculpture work has been done in hopes to stabilize the one of a kind art works. Finding our way into the theater was the hardest part of the day. Workers had recently partitioned off the theater with cinderblocks. After checking out the second and third floors we determined that from above there was no easy way into the auditorium. Having our respirators, gloves and lights, we were prepared to wade through water, if necessary, to get in.It was at this point we decided that we would have to go through the basement. The air downstairs was very poor in quality and likely toxic. It was pitch black and smelled of sewage and PCB. The rooms were small and narrow as were all the hallways. Some areas had chemicals spilled all over and others were filled with random junk. In the end, there was no way to get up into the theater from below. It was a nasty experience I don’t recommend. By now we had accepted that we were not going to be able to get in the theater. I was extremely disheartened but since we were here we moved on to the tower.

As I said before it was a hot muggy day, and inside the United Artist it was about 15 degrees warmer. Each and every window on every floor was sealed and walking around with gear and respirators on was like working out in a sauna. Whenever we did find a broken window we huddled around for the cool breeze. Unfortunately the tower wasn’t much to behold. The last tenants moved out some two decades earlier and no trace of them was left. I was utterly dismayed by now but as we looked out a 6thfloor window onto the backside of the building we saw our entrance into the theater. It felt like finding buried treasure I suppose.

Even though we found the opening, it wasn’t going to be easy getting in. We had to backtrack down to the fourth floor. Here there was a ledge on the back of the theater roof. We propped open a window and walked across the very narrow ledge. It was insanely nerve racking. To one side was a four-story fall to the parking lot, and on the other, holes in the roof of the theater. A fall off this side would have certainly been more painful but also much more dramatic. One at a time, we made our way across, and down a ladder behind the stage roof. Concealed here was a doorway leading inside the theater I had waited for so long to see.

Once inside, it was shocking to discover how intricate the architecture of the theater was – and how much of the place has been obliterated. Large holes in the plaster motifs sat ominously empty. Historic pictures of this area show large Indian statues two stories high looking out onto the seating area. Despite the absence of these statues one can still grasp the magnitude and elegance the theater must have had in its day. Water damage and vandalism had taken a toll on much of the theater but plaster pieces still lined much of the walls on the concourse and the enormous decorative centerpiece was still in the ceiling high above. I really didn’t want to think about that walk across the narrow ledge at this point.

By now the rain outside had diminished to a mist. The acoustics inside the theater reverberated with the echoes of water dripping through the partially exposed roof. The workmanship of the plaster ceiling glistened as beams of sunlight boldly shot through the darkness. Every descending raindrop could be heard: drip...drip, drip...drip. The constant flow of water was slowly eating away at the artisans work, furthering the destruction of this one-of-a-kind jewel. Because of the acoustics in the theater the Detroit Symphony Orchestra had recorded at the United Artist for a brief period until 1984 when the building finally closed. The theater itself closed to the public much earlier however in 1971, around the time its neighbor the Michigan Theater also went under. It was hard to imagine this place filled with some 2,000 people waiting to see a film or play. It was also hard to imagine the sounds of the symphony resonating off the cavities of this very theater.

Nothing could have been more refreshing than getting out onto the roof. For the first time in hours we escaped the muggy insides and felt a cool breeze. Exploring the United Artist was an experience I will never forget. The whole event was testament that only in Detroit are such important treasures lying abandoned in such plain sight. The loss of the United Artist was a huge loss for the city of Detroit and its rich culture of arts and entertainment. Our entertainment industry in Detroit once rivaled that of New York or Los Angeles. This was considered the Hollywood of the Mid-west and naturally those same comparisons are being made now. Michigan has been aggressively luring movie studios here with very attractive tax incentives, and a vast stockpile of cheap land. Right now, it appears to be a winning recipe for a state desperate for new jobs, and revenue. If the industry takes hold here again it will certainly change the future of this city forever.