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2/22/2021 - Andy Gray
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This image is the Liberty Theatre, which was a 1941 Johnson new construction or remodel project. Al shot the photo on August 1948, and it shows the theater in typical "art moderne" style with period-appropriate doors, marquee and accents. There is some question in my mind as to the location of the Liberty Theatre in my grandfather's 1948 slide. The CinemaTour website lists the address as 1020 Farmer Street, which is in the heart of downtown Detroit. Historic photos on the Cinema Treasures site show a three-story Liberty Theater in a former church. The peak of the gabled roof parallels the street and the front of the theater. Al's 1948 slide appears to have been taken in a less dense area of the city, and it shows a flat-roofed two-story theater building. Also, the front of the Gibbs Lumber store to the left of the theater shows an address of "25135 Van Dyke," which is several miles to the north of the old Farmer Street Theater Row. I believe the Liberty Theatre that Grandad Johnson built or remodeled was at that location rather than downtown on Farmer Street.
Here are three websites with info on the Liberty Theatre:
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1/4/2012 - Sean Doerr
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Architect - C. Howard Crane. This theater was actually built from the shell of the Central Presbyterian Church originally built in 1871. The narthex of the church became the backstage area and entrance was where the original alter was.
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1/13/2004 - Cinema Treasures
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Early 20th Century view of Detroit's original theater district along Monroe Street, including the Theatre Royale and the Liberty Photo courtesy of the Library of CongressThe Liberty was a nickelodeon-turned-silent movie house in the Farmer Street theater row that opened around 1913, and lasted until 1926, closing around the time sound films were being introduced. It sat next-door to the Theatre Royale, or Royale, also on Farmer Street. The entire block of buildings has long since been torn down.
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