Broadway & big houses / Monroe Street / Greektown
National Theatre
Closed – archive entry · 1911–1975
The last survivor of Detroit's first theatre district on Monroe Street and Albert Kahn's last known theatre, with twin domed towers and a great arched window. It went from vaudeville to movies to the city's last live burlesque house.
Quick facts
- Opened
- 1911
- Closed
- 1975
- Architect
- Albert Kahn with Ernest Wilby
- Style
- Baroque / Beaux-Arts with Moorish and Egyptian touches, in white terra cotta
- Seats
- about 800 (Historic Detroit; Cinema Treasures says 2,200)
- Landmark status
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 with the Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings
02 / The story of this place
Make time for these
The National opened in September 1911 as a vaudeville house on Monroe Street, in Detroit's first theatre district, and ended up as its last survivor. Albert Kahn designed it with Ernest Wilby, and it is Kahn's last known theatre: white terra cotta, twin 64-foot domed towers and a great arched window. In April 1912 Titanic survivor Jane Quick first told her story publicly from its stage. Vaudeville gave way to films and then burlesque; in the 1940s it billed itself as Detroit's biggest and best burlesque house, and it remained the city's last live burlesque theatre. It showed adult films as the Palace in the early 1970s, closed in 1975, and was spared in 1990 when the city razed the rest of the Monroe Block. Plans for a film museum and a dance club fell through, and in January 2024 the auditorium was demolished while the facade was taken down piece by piece for reuse.
- Albert Kahn's last known theatre
- Titanic survivor Jane Quick spoke here in 1912
- The city's last live burlesque theatre
Plan your visit
The auditorium was demolished in 2024 and the facade was taken down piece by piece for reuse. For live theatre downtown, see the working stages in our guide.
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Back to theaters ↗
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