Schwanky Detroit building transforms into pop-up performance space
Friday, June 3, 2011 at 11:40AM | Becks Davis 
Travelling down storied Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit, just south of Grand Circus Park, you might stumble across the historic Schwankovsky Temple of Music. Or, you might just walk right on by, not even noticing its existence.
From now until June 18th would be a good time to take notice. The space has been transformed under a new endeavor called vitaminwater uncapped LIVE: Detroit. Similar projects in other cities were a success for the vitaminwater brand and it seemed a natural fit to combine its opening with the Movement Festival here in Detroit.
The historic Schwankovsky
The Schwankovsky Temple of Music is a six-story, Queen Anne style building that was completed in 1891. Designed by Gordon W. Lloyd, the building was one of the first high-rise buildings in Detroit and it also was one of the first buildings to have an electric elevator.
The F.J Schwankovsky Company, the buildings original occupants, sold musical instruments and merchandise and later delved into manufacturing pianos. The building was later home to the Wright-Kay Jewelry Company, a fabric store, and at times it has been a nightclub.
The hip and schwanky Schwankovsky
Enter vitaminwater. They brought together local artists Antonio “Shades” Agee, Tony Roko, Cedric Tai, and Mike Han to convert the space into a custom and contemporary gathering space to showcase music, art, fashion, action sports and street culture.
Painting on the walls
Artist Mike Han.Think street art brought inside and amped up. The juxtaposition between the old architecture and the new graffiti and street art is compelling. The art will keep on evolving throughout the limited time the space is open. It’s a living, growing piece of artwork.
Along with their partners, vitaminwater uncapped LIVE has created a nerve center to develop new ideas to promote community involvement and social awareness. They have also put together a fantastic few weeks of programming including Jessica Hernandez & The Delta’s, who perform tonight.
The space is open until June 18th and I’m telling you, you don’t want to miss it! The historic Scwankovsky Temple of Music is located at 1500 Woodward Avenue on the corner of John R. Check out the full event schedule here.
Scroll down for photos from from the Tweetea event at the space.
Reader Comments (24)
Jsinghur,
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your point of view and knowledge. I agree with you, I'd rather see the Woodward Windows and the Schwankovsky being OPEN than empty spaces and ruin porn.
:)
Love Tony Roko! :-)
Dave,
Are you fucking serious? Out of all the abandoned buildings within the city, they actually do SOMETHING even if it's not another fucking multi-million dollar casino establishment, and you're gonna complain about them putting graffiti over the original work? Have you seen 75% of Detroit's beautiful historic buildings? They got graffiti on them too. How bout Michigan Central Station? Gonna bitch when they do something with that?
Conservative asshole. It's negative pricks like you that made Detroit have such a roller coaster of a history. To the people who did this, thank you for making an effort in investing in Detroit.