We've come a long way from the Iris Theatre!

The organists quickly outgrew the small theater.

The Iris Theater was built in 1916 and stood at 2314 East Grand Boulevard east of Woodward. Initially to have been designed by C. Howard Crane, who submitted an earlier design, the Iris Theatre ended up being done by the firm of Mildner & Eisen, in 1916, instead. The theater sat around 880 and was initially a first run film house. It would later switch to second-run and double features before closing in 1954 due to declining attendance. After the removal of the Wurlitzer from the Fisher Theater it was installed into the Iris Theater with an initial membership of 61 in 1961. The Detroit Theater Organ Club (the original name for the Detroit Theater Organ Society (DTOS)) rented the theater for three years before they out grew the facility and the rent increased. From 1961 to early 1963, the Detroit Theater Organ Club (DTOC) presented organ concerts for members and guests at the Iris Theatre on the former Fisher Theatre organ. On May 3rd, the club held its last concert at the Iris Theater. Removal began in anticipation of installing the organ in its new home on the west side of the city at the Senate Theater on Michigan avenue. By June of that year the club was completely out of the theater. After the DTOC left, the Iris Theatre stood vacant for a few more years before being torn down. The lobby of the Iris Theater pictured below.