Grande Ballroom - Photos
Grande Ballroom
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The Grande Ballroom exterior in 2023
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Detroit's Grande Ballroom got an impressive new mural commemorating MC5 in 2018.
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Exterior detail
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The Grande’s history stretches back to 1928, when it was built by Charles Agree, in a Moroccan-Spanish style. Agree also designed the Vanity Ballroom on Detroit’s east side, the Hollywood Theatre on Fort Street, the Whittier Hotel off East Jefferson, and the Belcrest Apartments on Cass.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/6613/Y1060559-Pano.jpg)
The backside of the Grande Ballroom building.
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The thought of artists that went through that back door still takes your breath away.
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Those vines indicate how long it’s been since that door has been opened!
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/2654/grande3.jpg)
The Grande has been left to rot for three decades. Holes in its roof have destroyed much of its plaster.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/6614/Y1060563-HDR-Edit.jpg)
What's left of the escape ladder
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The stage where so many legends performed has been laid to waste.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/2656/grande1.jpg)
The stage where so many legends performed has been laid to waste.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/2657/grande4.jpg)
The things this hallway saw back in the late 1960s ...
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What the elements haven't destroyed, vandals and scrappers have.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/2659/grande6.jpg)
Looking at the stage that hosted everyone from the MC5 to the Who to Led Zeppelin to the Yardbirds to John Lee Hooker.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/4108/Grande_Ballroom_Stage.jpg)
What's left of the stage of the Grande Ballroom
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/4109/Grande_Ballroom_Wide.jpg)
The Grande Ballroom has declined in condition considerably as decades of abandonment and neglect have really taken its toll.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/historic-detroit-prod/uploads/photo/photo/6616/Y1060573.jpg)
The mural keeps attracting onlookers, and did even even before Los Angeles-based artist Gabe Gault had finished mapping out its dense visual narrative of social justice, musical influence and hope — along with recognition of one of Detroit's most influential bands and one of the city's most legendary music halls.