OCTOBER 7 • 2021 | 15

W

hen Midtown Detroit’s Bonstelle 
Theatre — a performing arts center 
that was originally the Temple Beth 
El synagogue — opened in 1902, it was one of 
Michigan’s most glorious Jewish institutions.
Designed by celebrated Jewish architect Albert 
Kahn, who at the time was a younger member 
of the congregation, Temple Beth El had a bril-
liant, sweeping skylight and a grand stairway that 
descended all the way to Woodward Avenue. 
Inside, it held both services and Hebrew school.
Now the Roxbury Group, a Detroit-based real 
estate developer, aims to restore the synagogue’s 
original glory and recreate its ornate design as 
a home for the arts that continues to celebrate 
Jewish culture.
“One of the things we loved about that build-
ing and always love about any historic project 
we take on is the rich history behind it,” explains 
Stacy Fox, Roxbury’s senior vice president and 
general counsel.
The company will be renovating the Bonstelle 
Theatre as part of a $50 million development 
project in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood that 
will include a 10-story, 153-room AC Hotel by 
Marriott connected to the theater by a glass con-
servatory. It will be built instead of the scrapped 
West Elm hotel project, with the soon-to-be 
restored Bonstelle Theatre as its crowning jewel.

TEMPLE TO THEATER 
In 1924, when Temple Beth El was sold to 
American theater actress Jessie Bonstelle, the 
sweeping temple on Woodward Avenue was 
transformed into the Bonstelle Playhouse. It 
became a home for the arts, housing performanc-
es instead of Jewish services.
Over the decades, the theater changed hands 
(and names) several times, being redesigned to 
accommodate theater seating and plays. The 
iconic staircase connecting to Woodward Avenue 
was also shortened to accommodate a widening 
of the road in the mid-1930s.
Yet, underneath layers of paint and through the 
help of historic photographs, the Roxbury Group 
has uncovered bits and pieces of the synagogue’s 
former design — a beautiful pattern painting 
style — that they’ll use as a template for the res-
toration, set to begin in the coming months and 
taking approximately 18 months from start to 
finish.
However, the Roxbury Group is no stranger 
to historic, and sometimes challenging, Detroit 
renovations. They’ve restored the David Whitney 
Building after it sat abandoned for nearly two 
decades, along with the Metropolitan Building, 
a former dilapidated neo-gothic skyscrap-

Built in 1902 as Temple Beth El, 
iconic Albert Kahn structure to 
get a $50 million restoration.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

continued on page 16

THE ROXBURY GROUP

