Name C. Crane | Role Architect | |
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Died August 14, 1952, London, United Kingdom Structures Fox Theatre, United Artists Theatre B, Ace Hotel Los Angeles, Orchestra Hall, The Fill Detroit Similar People Albert Kahn, William Fox, Gordon W Lloyd, Sam H Harris, August Wilson | ||
Charles Howard Crane (August 13, 1885 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA – August 14, 1952 in London, England) was an American architect.
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Biography
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Crane moved to Detroit in 1904. He worked as a draftsman for several architectural firms, including Albert Kahn Associates, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, and the office of Gustave A. Mueller, before opening his own office in 1908.
Like Thomas W. Lamb and John Eberson, Crane specialized in the design of movie palaces in North America. Crane's career would include some 250 theaters in total, with 62 of them in the Detroit area. His 5174-seat Detroit Fox Theatre was the largest of the Fox Theatres. The 4,500 seat Fox Theatre in St. Louis was its slightly smaller architectural near twin. These were considered to have been his architectural masterpieces. Among the 5 massive Fox theatres, Crane also designed the Brooklyn Fox (4,088 seats, razed).
Crane was a genius at giving his venues great acoustics. Among his best theatres were Orchestra Hall (2,286 seats, temporarily renamed the Paradise Theatre), the former and once again home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Capitol Theatre (3,384 seats, and now the home of the Detroit Opera House and Michigan Opera Theatre).
Crane also designed Olympia Stadium (Detroit Olympia), which eventually had seating for 13,375 plus standing room for 3,300. Olympia, used by the Detroit Red Wings, was razed in 1987.
Crane also designed many office buildings. Most of his many downtown Detroit movie palaces had attached office towers that he designed (the Fox, United Artists, State, Capitol). However, Crane's office tower masterpiece is the 47 story 555 ft. tall LeVeque Tower in Columbus, Ohio.
Due to the 1929 Great Depression, Crane's theatre and office building commissions dried up. He became disillusioned and in 1930 moved to London, England, although he kept his Detroit office open for many years after moving. Crane designed many cinemas across Britain, but in much tamer designs than his American movie palaces.
Crane's most famous U.K. commission was Earls Court Exhibition Centre, an Art Moderne convention center that opened in 1937. It closed in 2014 and is due to be demolished in 2015.
Crane returned to visit Detroit once or twice a year until World War II. He then remained in London, where he died and was buried in 1952. His namesake descendants (C. Howard Crane III, et al.) now live in the Detroit area.