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Motion Picture News
November 1 , 1930
Small Sculptural Pieces In Panels Predominate Interior of RKO'S Downtown
Dethroning the Orient and Its Idols
CHARM AND WARMTH SUCCEED THE GROTESQUE AND CONVEY A TRUE SPIRIT OF CHEERY, HOME-LIKE ATMOSPHERE
DETROIT — Taking its place among the de luxe houses of Detroit, the new and transformed RP-O occupies a unique place among playhouses of the automobile city. For charm and intimacy, for warmth of coloring and decorative effects as well as comfort, the Downtown has already won the plaudits of picturegoers. Through almost complete remodeling of the interior, John Rberson, architect, has attained that effect so earnestly striven for, of a theater that, immediately upon entering, gives the impression of cheery, homelike atmosphere.
This intimacv has not been sacrificed
to ornate splendor although the house has achieved the effect of massive gorgeousness in its every detail.
The Downtown was formerly known as the Oriental. It is located on West Adams at Grand Circus Park, the hub of Detroit's business and night life. The Oriental, true to its name, was garish in its decorative schemes with a riotous blend of colors as the motif of wall and ceiling decorations and ugly Chinese idols in various niches and recesses along walls and corridors.
Now this is completely changed. Artistic in the extreme, every detail of decoration has been carefully blended so that
the entire interior is as cheerful as a living room in the finest home.
As one enters the main door they find a large lobby, the high ceiling giving an impression of baronial vastness. In fact one could well imagine that they were in the reception hall of a medievial king. Costly paintings line the outer wall, all the work of a famous Detroit artist. These paintings lighted with soft amber tints are found along the grand staircases on each side of the lobby and the mezzanine as well.
Where formerly the many, blinking Chinese idols overlooked in grotesque fashion the lobby and foyer, there are