The musician's gift saves the famed venue where The Who and the Rolling Stones once played.

DETROIT -- An anonymous benefactor who recently paid the entire $142,000 balance of back taxes to prevent Detroit's Masonic Temple from falling into foreclosure was revealed Tuesday to be musician Jack White.

The move prevents a threatened auction of the famed venue where The Who and the Rolling Stones once played.

The Detroit-born White has performed on stage on several occasions at the temple and his mother served as an usher there.

In announcing Jack White's identity as the anonymous donor, Detroit Masonic Temple Association President Roger Sobran stated: "Jack's donation could not have come at a better time and we are eternally grateful to him for it. Jack's magnanimous generosity and unflinching loyalty to this historic building and his Detroit roots is appreciated beyond words."

Sobran also said the temple's theater, a 27,878-square-foot venue with a seating capacity of 1,586, will be renamed the Jack White Theater.

"We could not be more humbled to bestow this honor on Jack," Sobran said.

Now 37, White is a singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor best known as the vocalist, guitarist and pianist of The White Stripes until the group split in 2011. He has collaborated with numerous other musicians including The Rolling Stones, Alicia Keys, and Bob Dylan.

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 on the National Register of Historic Places and, according to its website, is the largest masonic temple in the world, taking up an entire block with more than 1,000 rooms.

(Contributing: Associated Press)