Jack White pays $142,000 tax bill for a Detroit Masonic Temple

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Washington Bureau Chief

Musician Jack White has played springtime Santa, paying a $142,000 back tax bill for Detroit's historic Masonic Temple. The move prevents a threatened auction of the famed venue where The Who and the Rolling Stones once played.

Last Thursday, a then-anonymous donor paid off the famed music venue's entire 2010-2012 tax delinquency. The 14-story Masonic Temple was days away from being put up for sale.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It takes up an entire block and has more than 1,000 rooms, as well as a theater that has featured top performers for decades.

The Detroit Free Press reports that temple President Roger Sobran says his group is renaming the 1,586-seat theatre in its benefactor's name as the Jack White Theatre.

AP