C. Howard Crane

C. Howard Crane

Encyclopedia

Tutorials

Dictionary

Directory

Email this to a friend C._Howard_Crane

Charles Howard Crane (August 13, 1885 - August 14, 1952) was an American architect.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Crane established a practice in Detroit, Michigan early in the 20th Century. He was best known for his design of some 250 theaters in cities all over North America, more than 50 of them in the Detroit area. They include Detroit's 1922 Capitol Theatre, now the Detroit Opera House, the United Artists Theater (1928) in Detroit and the United Artists Theater (1927) in Los Angeles, the Fox Theatre (Detroit) (1928), and the Fox Theatre (St. Louis) (1929) as well as the August Wilson Theatre in New York City and the Liberty/Paramount Theatre in Youngstown, Ohio. The 5174 seat Detroit Fox Theatre was the largest of the Foxes. The 4,500 seat Fox Theatre in St. Louis was its slightly smaller architectural twin. In addition to his many designs for movie palaces, Crane was the architect of the 2286 seat 1919 Orchestra Hall, Detroit as well as the classic art deco LeVeque Tower (1927) in Columbus, Ohio, at the time of its construction, the tallest building between New York and Chicago.