Photo from Google maps
Designed in Art Deco style by architect Charles Agree in the late 1920s, the Vanity Ballroom in the Jefferson-Chalmers district on Detroit's east side hosted such jazz greats as Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald.
Rock groups, including MC5 and The Stooges, played there later.
The legendary landmark at 1024 Newport has been empty for about 30 years, but that could change, writes John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press:
It’s in rough shape. Josh Elling, director of the nonprofit civic group Jefferson East Inc. who is leading the renovation effort, showed me around the other day. Scrappers have been working, the ceiling is open to the sky, debris litters the floor everywhere. But it’s still possible to glimpse the former glory in the remains of Aztec decorations.
“Structurally the building is still sound but we’ve got to put a roof on it,” Elling said. “All told to bring that building back is about an $8 -million project.”
Before trying to raise that cash, Elling is figuring out what to do with the building, which the city has agreed to turn over to the civic group. He’s working with community partners to help him envision what it might become. The ground floor is likely to be mixed retail, but he’s open for ideas on the legendary second-floor ballroom space.
