Fisher Building

Famous Detroiters

Famous people tied to this place 7

Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.

• Grace Lee Whitney 1930–2015 · actress, singer

  Performed here

  WJR has broadcast from the Fisher Building in New Center since December 1928; Whitney sang on the station at 14.

• Albert Kahn 1869–1942 · architect

  Worked here

  His firm's Art Deco masterpiece in New Center, with a gilded three-story arcade; a National Historic Landmark.

• Géza Maróti 1875–1941 · sculptor, architect, applied artist

  Worked here

  Albert Kahn's Art Deco skyscraper in New Center; Maróti painted the arcade ceilings and designed sculpture and bronze details.

• Karl Haas 1913–2005 · classical music radio host, pianist, musicologist

  Worked here

  WJR has broadcast from the Fisher Building's 'Golden Tower' since 1928; Haas launched Adventures in Good Music on the station in 1959.

• Charles T. Fisher 1880–1963 · co-founder of Fisher Body, industrialist and banker

  Founded

  The brothers' Art Deco tower by Albert Kahn, with the Fisher Theatre inside; a National Historic Landmark across from Cadillac Place.

• James M. Nederlander 1922–2016 · theatrical producer, theater owner

  Related place

  The Nederlanders rebuilt the Fisher Building's movie palace into a 2,200-seat legitimate theater in 1961; it remains Detroit's main Broadway touring house.

• Joseph Z. Nederlander 1927–2021 · theater owner and operator, producer

  Worked here

  The Fisher Building's theater, which Nederlander helped convert into a live Broadway house in 1961 and then ran for decades.