Famous people's places / Detroit – Midtown
Bonstelle Theatre
A 1902 synagogue turned Broadway-style theatre on Woodward Avenue, home to Rabbi Leo M. Franklin's congregation and later Wayne State's theatre program, now an event space inside a new hotel.
01 / The story of this place
Make time for these
Albert Kahn designed this Woodward Avenue building in 1902 for Temple Beth El, Detroit's oldest Reform Jewish congregation, and Rabbi Leo M. Franklin preached here from 1903 until the congregation outgrew the building and moved to a larger temple in 1922. The building was reborn as a theatre in the 1920s under actress and director Jessie Bonstelle, who gave it her name, and it later became Wayne State University's Bonstelle Theatre, training generations of theatre students on Detroit's Midtown stage. Wayne State occupied the building until 2020, when it leased the property to the Roxbury Group, a Detroit development firm. After renovation, the building reopened in 2025 as a multi-use event space attached to a new AC Hotel Detroit at the Bonstelle, keeping the theatre's name and its distinctive Kahn-designed shell while giving it a new life.
- Built in 1902 by Albert Kahn as Temple Beth El
- Rabbi Leo M. Franklin preached here from 1903 to 1922
- Became a theatre under Jessie Bonstelle in the 1920s
- Wayne State University's theatre program used it until 2020
- Reopened in 2025 as event space inside the AC Hotel Detroit at the Bonstelle
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 2
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Jessie Bonstelle 1871–1932 · theater director, actress, company manager
Founded
The Albert Kahn synagogue she turned into the Bonstelle Playhouse and Detroit Civic Theatre; Wayne State used it as a stage until 2019, and since 2025 it is an event space beside the AC Hotel.
- Leo M. Franklin 1870–1948 · Reform rabbi of Temple Beth El
Worked here
Temple Beth El's 1902–1903 building by Albert Kahn, where Franklin preached for two decades; converted to a theater in the 1920s, it is now Wayne State University's Bonstelle Theatre.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
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Official website & visitor information ↗