Famous people's places / Detroit – Midtown
Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center
Wayne State University's jazz performance hall, opened in 2024 inside the former Hilberry Theatre and named for philanthropist Gretchen Valade, the 'Angel of Jazz' who saved the Detroit Jazz Festival.
01 / The story of this place
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This Cass Avenue building started life as the First Church of Christ, Scientist before Wayne State University converted it into the Hilberry Theatre, home to the university's graduate repertory company for decades. The Hilberry staged its last production, Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor," in November 2022, and the university then rebuilt the space as a jazz venue named for Gretchen C. Valade, heiress to the Carhartt clothing fortune. Valade had already earned the nickname "the Angel of Jazz" in Detroit for rescuing the struggling Detroit Jazz Festival in 2006 and endowing it to stay free forever; she donated 9.5 million dollars to fund this new center before her death in December 2022 at age 97. The Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center opened on August 29, 2024, with a main jazz performance hall and a basement club space, the Dee Dee Bridgewater Jazz Club, and it now hosts concerts and student performances year-round.
- Originally built as the First Church of Christ, Scientist
- Used as Wayne State's Hilberry Theatre until 2022
- Named for Gretchen Valade, who saved the Detroit Jazz Festival in 2006
- Opened as a jazz center on August 29, 2024, with the Dee Dee Bridgewater Jazz Club
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 3
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Jeffrey Tambor born 1944 · actor
Studied here
Wayne State's graduate repertory theater, opened in 1964 in a 1917 Christian Science church. It closed in 2022 for conversion into a jazz center; the new Hilberry Gateway opened next door in 2023.
- Thorsten Kaye born 1966 · actor
Performed here
Wayne State's graduate repertory theater in a 1917 church; Kaye played classical roles with the company. It closed in 2022 for conversion into a jazz center; the Hilberry Gateway opened next door in 2023.
- Gretchen Valade 1925–2022 · businesswoman, jazz philanthropist, record label founder
Memorial
Wayne State's jazz performance hall in the converted Hilberry Theatre, funded by her gifts and named after her; opened August 29, 2024.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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