Theatre Comique

02 / The story of this place

Make time for these

It opened on September 18, 1905, as the Crystal, a ten-cent vaudeville house near the Gratiot triangle offering seven or eight acts four times a day plus a Kinodrome of moving pictures. It was one of C. Howard Crane's earliest theatre designs. After legal fights and a failed bankruptcy auction it was reorganized and reopened on February 17, 1908, as the Theatre Comique, with continuous vaudeville, illustrated songs and films for a nickel or a dime. Its electric sign was billed as the largest on any building in America. On September 16, 1925, a film fire in the projection booth set off a stampede among 300 patrons. Its name vanished from the papers after 1927, and in 1928–29 permits converted it into retail space for the Crowley's department store.

• One of C. Howard Crane's earliest theatres
• Vaudeville four times a day, plus the Kinodrome
• Billed as America's largest electric building sign

Plan your visit

The Theatre Comique was converted into retail space for Crowley's department store in 1928–29. For a show downtown today, see the working stages in our guide.